SMS MOMSRHSMSMomome & OM OM SAO AO O LTO OT OMT OOM AES. 


RE — 


YOWO MEMO WOU SFU eo Ue 





: : 4 
sh - Ps 
2 , » ao 


LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
PRINCETON, N. J. 


PRESENTED BY 


chsh ee fs, See Eee re 


BX 8905 .P6 M4 1927 c.3 


Manual of the Presbyterian 
program for young people 





MANUAL 


OF THE 


‘Presbyterian Program 
for Young People 


Building With Christ 


PREPARED BY 


Young People’s Work of the Board of Christian Education 
Working Codperatively with the Young People’s Depart- 
ment, Board of Foreign Missions, and the Department 
of Young People’s Work, Board of National Missions. 


PUBLICATION DEPARTMENT 


PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 
WITHERSPOON BUILDING, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA 


1927 





Copyright, 1925, by the 
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 


Printed in the United States of America 
First Printing—June, 1925 
Second Printing—October, 1925 
Third Printing—June, 1926 


Revised Edition 
Copyright, 1927 








CONTENTS 
PART OL 


The Presbyterian Program for Young People 


CHAPTER PAGE 

PEEOUUCUIONL MMR: 3c \ teumemerat Trt wr i Weg far eee ete 5 

ee tnesy ono Lcoplennsthe: @hurchiy. mena sie 2, 

ieeeyY OUIISe L COpley Inv OLSHI pr. artes rere ten 18 

ieeeey Olive coplesande struction mn: oyun. iy 

Vem. Olle | COPIOMINR Ser VICCgs eal tae a 42 

Wee Ounoe Peoplesands Wecreation mite as 57 
Part II 


The Program in the Organizations 


Wiehe Young+People’s Section of the Church: .~ 73 
VII. Young People and the Organization and Work 


OrtherLrespyteniani@ nurclioues wre 85 

VIII. The Young People’s Department of the Sun- 
day jOChGOM arse trie meer Ree Cat en es 93 
ExXrabesy ouncereoples m0cicty. ree: sb oo 104 
mm blice VV EStttiiisten (utd ee cn ceeniy tena 114 
lgeebhe Younseviens Fellowship... 2.46%, ere 23 
PSM OC DIL Vir |. \Meaenebeteret gars Wei ae sueon c i alate Brodey «AE ate 133 
PDpeIdIxe A. GHinlinc OL COnLENt es aperah uae tee 136 

Appendix B. Age Group Program Promotion Through 
ther ramets eaderciip peck cme teen tane: 147 


For further information in regard to the Presbyterian 
Program for Young People, write to 


YouNG PEOPLE’s WoRK 
BOARD OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 
423 Witherspoon Building 
Philadelphia, Pa. 


Or 


Younc PEOPLE’s DEPARTMENT 
BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 
156 Fifth Avenue 
New York City 


Or 


DEPARTMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE’s WorK 
Boarp OF NATIONAL MISSIONS 
156 Fifth Avenue 
New York City 





INTRODUCTION 


The first edition of this Manual of the Presbyterian Pro- 
gram for Young People has been exhausted. Its appearance 
about two years ago marked an advance in the effort of the 
Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. to provide an adequate 
program of Christian education for its Young People. For 
the first time the Church offered a carefully studied program 
which provided, in something like a proper balance, those 
types of experience essential to the Christian faith and life of 
Young People which had distinct reference to their interests, 
characteristics, and needs. 

The revised edition is now published. It deals with the 
same program which has been prepared by the Board of 
Christian Education working cooperatively with the Board of 
National Missions and the Board of Foreign Missions. 
These Boards, which have varying responsibilities for Young 
People, have cooperated in organizing and promoting this 
unified educational program. The changes in this edition 
have been made in the interest of clarity of presentation. 

It seems advisable here to emphasize the fact that this is a 
program for Young People, from eighteen through twenty- 
three years of age. It is not a program for the high-school 
age group and is not adapted to their use. Neither is it a 
program for adults. It is only one part of a complete Church 
program for children and youth. Some materials for other 
age groups, such as the Juniors, the Intermediates, and the 
Seniors, have already appeared. Others are in process of 
preparation. Workers with these groups should secure the 
materials prepared for their use. 

The interpretation of the age limits for this program— 
eighteen through twenty-three years—should not be based 
entirely upon chronological age. These limits indicate in 
general that age group which has the interests and needs and 
is entering into the life relationships characteristic of later 
adolescence. It is important that there be developed for the 
Young People of this particular age group a program which 


5 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


shall prepare them for the experiences and life relationships 
of adult manhood and womanhood. At this age in particular 
the insights, the experiences, the activities of the earlier years 
may be enriched and expanded to form personalities capable 
of the finest leadership. Ifthe opportunities for this expansion 
are missed in these critical years, they are exceedingly diff- 
cult, if not impossible, to recover. The use, in many Young 
People’s groups, of the materials of this program confirms us 
in the conviction that such a program was needed, and that 
this particular program is adapted to its purpose. 

It would be impossible to acknowledge in detail all the 
assistance which the Young People’s Age Group Committee, 
representing the Boards of Christian Education, National 
Missions, and Foreign Missions, has received in the prepara- 
tion of this Manual and its revision. The Committee is 
profoundly grateful for this assistance and for the cordial 
reception that the Program has received from the Church. 

It remains only to say that the Program is dedicated to 
that spirit of youth of which John Bunyan spoke when he 
wrote of Master Valiant-for-the-truth: 


“Forget not Master Valiant-for-the-truth, 
That man of courage, though a very youth: 
Tell every one his spirit was so stout, 

No man could ever make him face about.” 


Harotp McA. Rosinson, 


Administrative Secretary of the Board of Christian 
Education of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. A. 


é 


PART I 
THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


It is important to remember at all times that the 


content of the Program is essential; not the 
organization through which it is given. 





Gaia biel 
THE YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE CHURCH 


Young people are asking one question with great persist- 
ence: “Is it really possible to follow Christ in our day?” A 
religion confined to certain times or to certain places of wor- 
ship or to separated parts of life cannot possibly satisfy 
the youth of the present. They face an extremely difficult 
situation as they take up their full share in the life of the 
world of to-day. How are they to build fine characters in the 
midst of many downward influences, how are they to help 
to avert world catastrophe and to establish peace and co- 
operation among nations? No wonder they want to know 
whether the supreme principles of the living Christ can be 
practically applied to actual life! 

Can those teachings which found utterance in the quiet 
hills of Galilee be made dominant in the crashing industrial 
centers of the twentieth century? Can those ideals voiced 
when Palestine was a colony of the great Roman Empire be 
made the bases of national laws and international relation- 
ships in the modern world? Can Christ’s way of love and 
service be applied to the vexing problems of home life in 
America, to difficult decisions of campus activity, to the 
daily grind and incessant competition of the business world? 
Young people are asking not only, “Can Christianity be 
believed?” but more especially their question is, ‘Can 
Christianity be lived?” 

Nor do the minds of youth stop there. If Christianity 
can be lived, why is it not dominant and controlling in 
political, social, and industrial life, in racial contacts, and in 
international relationships? If it is applicable, why war? 
why famine? why disease and pestilence? why ignorance? 
why injustice? 

Nor is this the end. If Christianity is practical, why is it 
not supreme in the personal lives of Christ’s followers? 
Young people are rightfully challenging the value of medio- 


9 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


cre Christianity and half-hearted conditional acceptance of 
the truth. In the world to-day, does not Christ call his 
followers to take him seriously in all things and put the 
whole strength of their lives into the advancement of his 
Kingdom? Such consecration, like a pioneer’s adventure 
into an uncharted land, will doubtless mean hardship, loneli- 
ness, even sacrifice, but surely nothing else is sufficient to 
solve the problems which the world faces. Many young 
people have already heard the call and are challenging the 
Church by their devotion. Millions more are ready to follow. 
Who will help them to hear the challenge? 

With young people facing such issues, what shall the 
Church do? Clearly it cannot be satisfied without pouring 
out its best for them that they may have all the light and 
guidance possible. Under the pressure of this conviction, 
the Presbyterian Program for Young People has been pre- 
pared. It attempts to provide one unified and purposeful 
plan leading to Christian life, growth, and activity to take the 
place of the separately published and sometimes overlapping 
programs which preceded this correlated form. 

It is hoped that this Program will help the young people 
under the stimulus of the great challenge of to-day to find 
Christ’s truth and to approach his ideals as they build their 
lives. It aims to help them to accept and carry out their 
share of responsibility for the promotion of Christ’s cause. 
It expresses alike the will of the Church and of its young 
people that Christ shall rule in the world and in each life. 
These purposes find expression in the aim which has been 
adopted for the entire Program. 


THE AIM OF THE PROGRAM 


Growth in effective Christian living through 

personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Saviour 

and Lord, acceptance of his purpose for the 

whole of life, and united service for the advance- 

ment of the Kingdom. 

Since this aim expresses the very heart of the Program, 
it is well to dwell a moment on its significance. On it the 
committee planning the Program spent much time and 


10 


¢ 


] 


piieoy OUNG PEORLE INCTHE, CHURCH 


thought. The aim speaks of growth, for clearly one great con- 


~ cern is that the Christian program in these years shall stimu- 


late young people to see a great goal ahead and to conceive of 
life as progress, with increasing opportunities and responsi- 
bilities. The Program seeks to provide those studies and to 
suggest that actual practice in Christian living by which the 
young person will grow toward “the measure of the stature 
of the fulness of Christ.” 

The aim contemplated “growth in effective Christian liv- 
ing.” The great need is for Christians who know how 
to put their religion into practice in the midst of the 
world’s life, who can bring the purpose and power of Christ 
to bear on the whole situation in which they find themselves. 
How wistfully the earnest Christians of great countries 
like China and Japan look toward America, wishing that the 
land which sent out those who proclaimed to them the 
gospel would demonstrate the power of that gospel in its 
everyday life and its national affairs! If the cause of 
Christ is to triumph, there must be a generation of Chris- 
tians who can apply his spirit and principles in the home, in 
social life, in business and industry, in politics and public 
life, in international dealings. There is no hope for this 
except “through personal commitment to Jesus Christ as 
Saviour and Lord’”—Saviour from sin and failure, from 
littleness and selfishness, Giver of the vision of what a life 
may be and of power to live victoriously, Lord of thought, 
desire, and act, and of all the powers, abilities, and influence 
his followers possess. 

The aim further expects this growth in effective Christian 
living to come through the “acceptance of his purpose for 
the whole of life.” For years there has been recognized a 
ringing challenge to certain young people to accept Christ’s 
purpose for their lives and enlist as missionaries or ministers. 
Too often it has been assumed that this was a peculiar kind 
of call and that no such thrill of consecration may be ex- 
perienced by those who remain behind in the ordinary walks 
of life. Surely there have been few greater mistakes. Christ 
calls every Christian to share his great purpose for mankind. 


11 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


Every young person should see that to be fully Christian 
one must make Christ’s purpose for the world the dominating 
purpose of his own life, live as thoroughly for the advance- 
ment of Christ’s Kingdom as does any missionary or other 
full-time Christian worker. Only on this basis can life- 
work choices be rightly made; only on this basis can the 
Christian hope for the fullest life and expect to make right 
use of the money, influence, abilities that may be his; only 
in this way can the cause of Christ be advanced in the world 
as it ought. 

Finally, the aim looks for growth in effective Christian 
living through “united service for the advancement of the 
Kingdom” of God, knowing that such service is essential to 
growth in the Christian life aside from its value in itself. 
The Program plans not only to encourage service and to 
suggest many helpful ideas, but also actually to provide 
training for service and to call attention to opportunities in 
the individual church and community and in the work of 
the Church throughout this land and to the ends of the earth. 


THE FOUR DIVISIONS OF THE PROGRAM 


Clearly the attainment of the aim that has been set forth 
will require instruction. How much there is for young 
people to learn: about Christ, his work, his purpose, his 
teachings, his way of life and all that it implies for our day, 
the salvation he brings and the hope he offers; about the 
Bible and its revelation of God’s will; about God the Father 
and his love for men; about the Church, its life and worship, 
its God-given task in which each Christian is to share; about 
conditions in the world about them; about other peoples ; 
about the making of a home; about health, and many an 
equally important subject required for an abundant life. 

Just as clearly must the Program include worship, the 
drawing near to God, the seeking and finding fellowship with 
him. Not by knowledge alone can young people build able 
Christian lives but by sharing God’s love and experiencing 
his inspiring and strengthening presence. 


12 


fate OUNG PROPLE IN’ THE: GHURCH 


Service also must have a large place in the Program. The 
Christ whom young people are to follow came to serve, 
proclaimed that he who would be greatest must be “servant 
of all,” and “went about doing good.” Those who follow 
him must give themselves in service. There are few greater 
needs than that of enlisting young people in actual service 
for Christ and their fellows, both that their religion may be 
real and that they may help to bring God’s will to pass. 

While the need for recreation may not be so apparent to 
most people, it is none the less real. Christ came that men 
might have abundant life, and the heart of youth calls for 
fellowship and joy which should be a part of the whole life 
of Christians and not separated from their religion. 


WHAT IS THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM FOR 
YOUNG PEOPLE? 

It is a plan to make possible for young people the fullest 
Christian knowledge and experience by combining worship, 
instruction, service, and recreation so that each one of these 
may contribute to the unity and completeness of life. Where 
there are several organizations for young people within a 
church, plans are made for cooperation whereby the separate 
organizations may participate in carrying out one common 
Program for Young People from eighteen through twenty- 
three years of age. If desired, the organizations may unite 
to form a single organization, or if only one exists, work 
may be enlarged so that it will include the complete program. 

The Program covering these six years is not for the 
Sunday school alone, nor for the Young People’s society 
alone. It is for the Young People’s Section of the Church, 
which embraces all young people of these ages whether re- 
lated to the Church by membership, by participation in one 
or several of its organizations, or by attendance at any of 
its services. It covers the whole range of instruction and 
activity. It attempts to visualize the young person’s relation- 
ship to the Church from his own point of view, and to 
suggest an attractive and attainable goal in his training. 

This Manual explains the general principles underlying 


13 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 





the Program. The Year Books, as they are issued, will give 
the themes in which the programs for each year center, and 
will recommend the definite program material to be used. 
Neither of these books will contain the actual courses to be 
pursued, but they will direct people to the places where 
courses may be obtained and explain how the work may be 
assigned to the different organizations. Sunday-school les- 
sons, mission-study textbooks, leaflets—all will be used as 
materials to convey the Program to the individual church. 


WHY ONE PROGRAM FOR THE YOUNG PEOPLE? 


Individual churches need unified programs. Any num- 
ber of agencies may be interested in the religious education 
of young people and any number of programs may be offered 
to that end. Where many are offered, young people must 
choose, rejecting one and accepting another; or else, select- 
ing from each, they must draw up, consciously or uncon- 
sciously, their own “unified” programs. The individual 
church, likewise confronted with a diversity of programs 
and suggestions emanating from different sources, must 
choose between them or select from each the elements which 
seem most useful and practical. To some extent, worship, 
instruction, service, and recreation such as are contemplated 
in this program have been present in some form in various 
parts of the Church’s work for young people in the past. 
But there has been no one program which made adequate 
provision for them all. Since there has rarely been any 
effective way of correlating the work of the different organi- 
zations, there has been no assurance that any one young 
person was receiving help in all these phases of life. 

The Presbyterian Program seeks to remedy this situation 
by providing one Program, built each year around a great 
central theme, to be carried out by the cooperation of all the 
organizations within a church or by one organization with a 
three hour a week schedule. The Program is the result of 
the cooperative effort of the three Boards, of Christian Edu- 
cation, Foreign Missions, and National Missions, to offer a 


14 


THE YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE CHURCH 


course of religious education which will contain in scientific 


proportions all the elements necessary for adequate training 


of Presbyterian young people as citizens of the Kingdom of 
Christ. 

The various young people’s organizations need a unified 
purpose. The Church is no longer satisfied that various 
groups of young people shall make lonely and separate 
struggles toward their goals. Nor are the young people will- 
ing to live unto themselves in their various organizations. 
There is a new determination that with each group con- 
tinuing its proper work and responsibility, all shall unite 
in a common purpose and find together the pathway toward 
God. To climb surely, to advance unitedly, and to attain 
fully is the purpose of the Church and of its young people. 
This Program is the first attempt on the part of the whole 
Church to carry out that ideal. 


THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE SIX YEAR 
PROGRAM 


The years following the age of eighteen are years of prog- 
ress. Young people are making their way in college and 
professional schools. Some are passing rapidly through an 
apprenticeship in business or industry and acquiring the 
skill and knowledge necessary for mastery. Some are es- 
tablishing their own homes and others are looking forward 
to doing so. Through it all, there is the joy of doing, happi- 
ness in progress, and an exhilaration in accomplishment, 
which are characteristic of the age. 

But preparation for secular life and civic citizenship is 
not enough. Young people must also be trained for leader- 
ship in human advancement and for citizenship in the King- 
dom of God. There must be definite progress and inspiring 
accomplishment in their religious lives. The six-year cur- 
riculum of the Building With Christ Program is planned 
to supply the need of this period of progress and develop- 
ment, and is intended to secure the spiritual maturity and 
strength necessary for the new responsibilities of life. It 
should make possible in the individual church a _ well- 


15 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 





balanced program, rich in value because suited to the needs 
of the young people and consistently attractive because filled 
with challenges to service and accomplishment. 


THE PROGRAM FOR EACH YEAR 


As the whole Program has a purpose, so each year of the 
course has a distinct purpose and a definite theme. All 
worship, instruction, service, and recreation will be appro- 
priate to that theme. Sunday-school lessons, Young People’s 
society topics, and other parts of the Program are planned 
with these special purposes in view. ‘The various organi- 
zations, such as the Young People’s Department, the or- 
ganized classes for those of this age in the Sunday school, 
the Young People’s society, the Westminster Guild, the 
Young Men’s Fellowship, each in its own field of work, are 
united in the accomplishment of one task for the year. As 
groups of young people in the Church of Christ they move 
forward together. 

The Program does not urge the discarding of organizations 
now serving satisfactorily, nor does it suggest the curtailment 
of any activities in the individual church which may go 
beyond it. But it does insist that there is a certain mini- 
mum of religious education which young people should 
receive. Whatever organizations are maintained, it is in- 
tended that the elements of this Program shall be distributed 
among them in the most effective way possible. Methods of 
doing this are suggested in later chapters of this Manual and 
in the Young People’s Year Books. 

The program for each year, with its special purposes and 
themes, is presented in the Young People’s Year Book to 
be published annually. This will contain information con- 
cerning the special objectives of the year and will carry more 
detail than would be possible in the Manual. The Year 
Book is for the use of young people and their leaders, 
teachers, superintendents, and pastors. 

The Year Book and the Manual together cannot carry in- 
structions for every situation, nor can they answer every 
problem. But the individual church adopting the general 


16 


THE YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE CHURCH 


purpose of the year and incorporating those parts of the 
_ Program which are suitable, will have no difficulty in cor- 
relating its various activities. It is hoped that in the themes 
of each year and in the purposeful and cooperative effort 
which these programs call forth, the young people of the 
Church may find God’s purpose for the whole of life, and 
unite as Christians for the advancement of the Kingdom. 


17 


CHAPTER II 
YOUNG PEOPLE IN WORSHIP 


A Bedouin of the desert on a prayer rug, his face turned 
toward Mecca, his heart turned toward God; a Hindu at 
Benares, seeking cleanliness in unclean waters; a Turkish 
dervish reeling in a frantic and ecstatic attempt to merge 
his consciousness with that of the Infinite; an Indian, quiet 
and yearning before the presence of the Great Spirit—thus 
do men worship. They may have knowledge or be utterly 
ignorant. Laws and traditions may or may not be recorded 
in their minds. But to them all comes the yearning for God 
and the desire to find some way of communion with him. 

For Christians more than for those of any other faith, 
worship means a personal relationship with God. Through 
the revelation of God there has been given a law of life which 
is supreme. But there is something more. Through worship, 
Christ with his spirit enters into men’s hearts, turning them 
toward God and giving them the will and power to live this 
life. And without such worship, hours of study, knowledge 
of the Bible, projects of service, attempts at Christian fellow- 
ship are vain. Important as all of these things are, they are 
dependent for their value upon men’s attitude toward God 
and their feelings toward their fellow men. If we “speak 
with the tongues of men and of angels,” if we “have the gift 
of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge,” 
if we “have all faith, so as to remove mountains,” if we be- 
stow all our goods to feed the poor and give our bodies to 
be burned, and have not love, we are nothing. Under and 
above everything is man’s attitude toward God, his fellow 
men, and himself. This is the original spring of life. It is 
the motivation of service. The entire life within the Church 
and man’s own personal development depend on his at- 
titude of mind and heart and the spirit with which his life 
is imbued. 


18 


&, 


YOUNG PEOPLE IN WORSHIP 





WORSHIP IN THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


That the young people may have that fundamental relation- 
ship to God upon which all else depends, that they may have 
a consciousness of his presence as they study and apply his 
principles, that they may learn the will of Christ and be strong 
in its accomplishment, worship is made one of the basic ele- 
ments in the Program. The study which is planned, the 
varied forms of service which are suggested, and the helpful 
recreation contemplated all depend for their effectiveness 
upon worship, which gives the needed spiritual impetus. 


THE AIM OF WORSHIP 


To establish and develop that filial relation- 
ship with God and Christlike fellowship with 
men through which the worshiper shares God’s 
Spirit and purpose and receives strength for 
Christian living. 


This aim assumes that worship is primarily an act of 
communion with God. In public worship it is also com- 
munion in which one’s fellow worshipers share, so that 
hearts not only are drawn near to God but also are united 
to one another. Together the worshipers find fellowship 
with God, and by this experience they are bound closer to 
all who follow Christ and are encouraged to live as God’s 
children. That Christians need this mutual encouragement 
is clear. The fact that it is found in group worship is what 
gives great value to communing with God in company with 
one’s fellows. True, one may enter into communion with God 
alone, but one never enters into it with the interests of one’s 
fellow men left out. “The whole world is the audience 
chamber when God holds court.’ Jesus makes this point 
strongly when he insists that one coming to the altar to 
worship God must be in right relations with his fellow men. 


ELEMENTS OF WORSHIP 


Into acts of communion certain great attitudes enter, 
particularly reverence, praise, gratitude, aspiration, loyalty, 
good will. Though these may not all be present in any one 


19 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


act of worship, it is doubtful whether there is any true 
worship that does not include one or more of them, for 
instance, reverence. 

How impossible it is to approach God without reverence! 
Yet how many services have been attempted where it is 
not present, as in some “opening exercises” in Sunday 
schools where bells are banged, persons face in all directions 
and are inattentive, and late comers enter as they please. 
Many elements enter into the encouragement of reverence: 
the appearance and condition of the room, having everyone 
face the leader, securing quiet before any act of worship be- 
gins, use of songs that are reverential (how many are not!) 
sung with appreciation of what they mean, thoughtful reading 
of the Scripture, purposeful and definite prayer. 

In the same way the other attitudes might be discussed. If 
one is to be worthily grateful to God for his immeasurable and 
constant goodness, thoughtful attention should be turned to 
the subject in advance. The Bible is full of splendid records 
of the thanksgiving of grateful people. An appropriate 
passage should be selected. There are hymns of gratitude 
in which the worshiper may find finer expression for his 
own thoughts and feelings than he himself could frame. 
The prayer should not be an unthinking word of thanks, 
but an expression of heartfelt gratitude for appreciated 
blessings. 

These considerations help to show the vital importance of 
planning most worship services thoughtfully in advance. 
How can these essential attitudes be secured if at the last 
moment some one hurriedly looks up a Bible passage which 
is later limpingly read, thumbs through a hymn book to see 
what may be sung lustily on a moment’s notice, whether or 
not it fits, is reverent, or has any meaning, and prays ram- 
blingly without previous thought? 


MEANS OF WORSHIP 
Perhaps enough has been said to suggest that if young 
people really wish to worship they should value and use 
rightly the several means of worship—hymn, prayer, Scrip- 


20 


YOUNG PEOPLE IN WORSHIP 


ture, offering, message, which may take such form as a talk, 
story, or a selection from devotional literature. A few words 
on each of these subjects may be helpful. 

Hymns. Much of the spiritual wealth of Christianity 
has been poured into its religious music. Nearly all Chris- 
tians have experienced the joy and help that great hymns 
bring, whether sung in a worshiping company or repeated in 
the quiet of one’s heart. There are hymns whose words 
are an encouragement or a challenge, to be treasured for 
many a time of need, whose music will lift the soul out of 
many a rut of discouragement. Any Christian deprived of 
the inspiration of the great hymns has suffered a serious 
loss. 

Young people should give attention to good religious 
music if they are to worship well. In the first place, they 
should never use so-called hymns whose music is irreverent 
and whose words are unworthy of a place in the worship of 
_the God of all the earth. Hymns should be selected that 
express real religious thought and feeling and are appropriate 
to the occasion. The music at a missionary service should 
not be limited to two or three hymns already worn thread- 
bare. There is a whole range of fine and appropriate hymns 
on God’s love, on the spread of his Kingdom, on service. 
The number as well as the variety of hymns that can be sung 
well should be constantly increased. This will require study, 
and indeed every group of young people ought to make a 
study of the great hymns, their meanings, and the stories 
behind them. A good musician might be asked to lead the 
group in a study of hymnology, making clear the beauty and 
worth of the greatest hymns. Good books for use in the 
groups or individually are suggested in the Bibliography. 
By such study the worship of the group as well as the lives 
of the individual members will be greatly enriched. New 
hymns should be added to those already known by the group, 
but time should not be taken during the worship service for 
learning them. This practice should be arranged for at 
some other period. There are many interesting ways of in- 
troducing a new hymn. The words may be put on a stere- 


21 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


opticon slide and thrown on a screen; or pictures illustrating 
the hymn may be used. A musician in the group may ex- 
plain the points of interest inea good hymn tune. Some one 
may relate how the words came to be written or tell some- 
thing about the life of the writer. Often a new hymn may 
be used first as a solo or a quartet and then learned by the 
whole group. Now and then such a solo or quartet may be 
very effectively accompanied by a pantomime of the action 
of the hymn. 

Prayer. No one can exaggerate the value and impor- 
tance of prayer, prayer which unites hearts with God and 
seeks to find his will, prayer which is the greatest resource 
for fine living and for all Christian service. In the young 
people’s services of worship and in their own lives prayer 
should have a large place. 

Much more careful thought should be given to the sub- 
ject of prayer than has generally been given. Perhaps in 
the revolt against written prayers, repeated sometimes by 
rote, our Protestant churches have gone too far to the other 
extreme so that we are sometimes in danger of entering the 
presence of God carelessly to say words without thought. 
Both for public and for private prayer it behooves us to do 
some serious thinking. 

For most worship services those who are to lead in 
prayer, as well as other participants, should be asked con- 
siderably in advance. The prayer should always be thought 
through beforehand, and now and then it would be well to 
write it out completely. Classes and societies should formu- 
late group prayers for unison use, perhaps having several 
for different occasions or on different subjects. A little 
cooperative thinking may develop some prayers that really 
express the spiritual aspirations of the group and help in 
drawing near to God. 

Groups and individual persons ought to make a study of 
prayer. Some of the great prayers of Christian history may 
be learned and used. A collection may be made of choice 
prayers on various subjects. Some of the best books are 
listed in the Bibliography at the end of this volume. 


22 


J \ 


YOUNG PEOPLE IN WORSHIP 

Certainly prayer should be definite. Most of the worship 
programs will naturally suggest subjects for prayer. Be- 
sides seeking help to know and to do God’s will and to 
share his Spirit, prayer should certainly include intercession. 
Many persons and causes need our prayer—friends, institu- 
tions, those in authority, the nation, the Church, those doing 
Christian work, and many others. There should be prayer 
for the work of the Church in the community and through- 
out the nation and the world. It is well to work out a 
definite plan of prayer topics that may be printed in advance 
on the regular topic cards or programs or be posted in the 
meeting room. Prayer for missionaries and their work 
should find a large place in such plans. For this, the Year 
Book of Prayer for Missions will be of great value. 

Is it not time for young people to take seriously Christ’s 
teaching and example in respect to prayer? A brief study 
of his life will show that he lived in the atmosphere of com- 
munion with God and prayed long and earnestly before mak- 
ing all great decisions. Do they take him seriously when he 
says: “Where two or three are gathered together in my 
name, there am I in the midst of them,” “If two of you shall 
agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it 
shall be done,” “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and 
ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you’? 

Imagine what would happen in any young people’s or- 
ganization that began to act on those great realities. Are 
there problems in the group? Let those who are interested 
meet frequently in earnest and believing prayer. Are there 
new plans to be undertaken? Surely they should be launched 
with prayer and real faith in the Father who hears. What 
ought to be done can be done by God’s help. If even a few 
see the need, believe the duty is God’s will, and care enough 
to pray earnestly together, they will find the way opening to 
enlist the zeal of others and to accomplish the task. 

Probably there are few more valuable things that most 
groups of young people can do than to encourage and help 
to develop effective prayer life in the individual members. 
A study of prayer may well be made, using a good book on 


23 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 





the subject. Members of the group may covenant together 
to pray daily for certain definite causes or persons. In- 
dividual members may be helped to participate in prayer in 
the meetings of the group by being asked beforehand and 
given suggestions. Surely a way must be found to develop 
and use this great resource of prayer. 

Scripture. Perhaps no other means of worship has 
been so badly misused as Scripture-reading. Stoutly main- 
taining belief in and reverence for the Bible, men have often 
used it most disrespectfully. Too often the Scripture is 
hastily selected and read without force or appreciation. A 
great opportunity is lost when the Bible is read carelessly 
and in such manner as to hide from others the boundless 
wealth which it holds. 

Contrast with this a quiet vesper service on a winter 
afternoon. As the pastor began to read familiar phrases 
from the gospel, the church and the choir and the congrega- 
tion faded from consciousness and there appeared on a hill- 
side the radiant form of the Son of Man surrounded by hum- 
ble folk: who eagerly listened to such great words of truth 
and love as never man had heard before. The reading ended 
and the church became real again; there was no sermon— 
none was really needed that afternoon; the worshipers had 
listened to the deathless words of Christ. So man may enter 
into the truths of God and share the spiritual vision of the 
greatest souls of the ages by reading and hearing the Scrip- 
ture aright. 

The Scripture passage for each service should be chosen 
well. in advance. Let it be studied and rehearsed aloud by 
the person who is to read it until he or she can read the 
words in such a manner that all may get the message. 

One fault in the choice of passages for Bible-reading has 
been to limit the selection to those already familiar. All the 
great subjects of which men want to think in worship serv- 
ices have been splendidly treated in the Book of books. A 
little search will reveal additional passages of beauty and 
helpfulness on almost any subject with which we are deal- 
ing, out of which the hearers will get new benefit. 


24 


YOUNG PEOPLE IN WORSHIP 





Responsive and unison reading should be well done, with 
everyone taking part. It would pay to put time and effort 
into preparation for this part of the program. By having the 
group learn to use effectively unison opening sentences, 
unison responses, and the like, the service of worship may 
be enriched. 

Offering. Giving is too often considered a formality or 
a matter of business to be slipped in somewhere on the 
program when the opportunity presents itself. Young peo- 
ple frequently fail to recognize giving as a part of worship. 
It is one of the most beautiful parts. It is a means of 
pouring out one’s life to God, the return to him of his own, 
the participation of the individual in the work of the King- 
dom. As such it should have a definite place in many serv- 
ices of worship. 

The manner of giving the offering may help to make it 
worshipful. Let nothing irreverent or careless be done. The 
spirit of the service should not be broken. To have in- 
strumental music during the giving of the offering may help. 
A prayer of consecration or a stanza of a prayer hymn may 
well follow. 

No offering should be taken thoughtlessly and as a matter 
of course. Everyone should know for what gifts are in- 
tended. Certainly many of the offerings should be for 
Christian work outside the organization, such as the definite 
objects under the Boards, in which the organization is glad 
to share and with which it keeps in close touch. Thus the 
offering will be a real sharing in the work of the Kingdom 
and therefore an act of worship. 

Message. There will often be short worship services 
consisting of hymns, prayer, and Bible-reading only, but 
many services will include a spoken message. This should 
be carefully prepared. Probably it will carry the theme of 
the service more specifically than any other part. Many 
methods are available. There may be a thoughtfully pre- 
pared talk on the topic, or several very short talks by dif- 
ferent persons, or an appropriate and effective story well 
told. A blackboard talk or map talk may be used, especially 


as 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


in missionary services. A brief stereopticon lecture or a 
simple dramatization or pageant may convey the message. 
The Bibliography suggests books from which to select this 
material. 

The wealth of devotional literature found in the writings 
of those who have lived close to God and learned the secrets 
of the spiritual life offers a treasury from which selection 
may be made for this part of the service. An appropriate 
selection, well utilized, may bring the message to the hearts 
of the worshipers in a peculiarly effective way. Such litera- 
ture also enriches personal devotions. 


WHERE YOUNG PEOPLE WORSHIP 


When the worship of young people is discussed, we are 
accustomed to think of some one church service in which 
they figure largely. But this connotation is too limited. The 
worship of young people includes all those services in the 
church in which they have any part, and all the time which 
they spend in this fundamental part of the Christian life. 
Included in young people’s worship are the Sunday church 
services, the Sunday school, the midweek meeting, the society 
hour on Sunday evening, the devotional portion of the week- 
day activities of young men or young women in their separate 
groups. Included also are the family altar and the private 
prayer life of each individual person. Often the true mean- 
ing of worship is discovered, and young people find for the 
first time that communion with God for which they have 
been seeking in the services of a conference or institute. 

Worship in the Church Services. These services, no less 
than others, belong to the young people. The church is not 
an organization of older people in which youth is permitted 
to share. They, together with the older people, are the 
church, and its services are theirs. 

The young people must, in the first place, assume their 
share of responsibility for the effectiveness of these services. 
No young man or young woman should enter the Sunday 
or midweek services without an earnest petition to God that 
the prayer, the music, the giving, all may be to the glory of 


26 


YOUNG PEOPLE IN WORSHIP 


God and the uplifting of every soul present. Young people 
should realize that sharing the service in spirit and in act is 
a direct contribution to the worship of the congregation, and 
that their failure to do so definitely detracts from the value 
of the service to the other members. 

There is a corresponding necessity that those planning the 
worship of the church should recognize in due proportion 
the needs of the young people. Music which is chosen for 
congregational singing should be selected very often with 
the yearnings of youth in mind. Special music should be 
so planned that occasionally it will lift up the prayers and 
desires of those in this period of life. Prayer which binds 
the great heart of the congregation to God should now and 
again echo the vibrant petitions of young men and young 
women. When older people and younger are being borne 
into the presence of the Almighty, the young people must 
also be remembered. They, too, must be lifted up. 

Worship in the Church Organizations. The chapters on 
the Sunday school, Young People’s society, Westminster 
Guild, and Young Men’s Fellowship in Part II of this book 
will discuss worship in the programs of those organizations. 

Worship in the Home. Worship begins in the individual 
life, and every Christian should have that close, personal 
communion with God which is the source of power for 
Christian living and thinking. Prayer, or communion with 
God, should begin and close the day, and should establish 
that fellowship with God, through Christ, which makes of 
daily life a constant companionship with him. The Pro- 
gram for Young People presupposes such private worship, 
and counts it the necessary foundation for a Christian life. 

The thought of private devotions leads naturally to a con- 
sideration of family worship, since both come within the 
home. The difficulty of finding time for family worship and 
indifference to its importance have resulted in its being 
largely neglected to-day. There is no excuse for failing to 
ask God’s blessing upon the food which his goodness has 
provided. Furthermore, where there is a real desire to 
gather the family for Bible-reading and prayer, a time can 


27 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


be found. At the breakfast table just before separating for 
the duties of the day, or after the evening meal, a few 
moments spent in worship, with children as well as parents 
participating, will bind the group together in true fellowship 
with God. Some of the books of prayers mentioned in the 
Bibliography may enrich these family devotions. On Sun- 
days time may be found to enjoy together some of the great 
hymns of the Church and to make them a part of life. 


THE ORDER OF SERVICE 


For every worship program an order of service should 
be planned. A little thought will help greatly in making 
the service beautiful and truly worshipful. The outline that 
follows is intended to suggest various parts which may be 
included in a well-planned service and an acceptable order in 
which they may appear. There is no intention of saying 
that this order is best or that everything that is mentioned 
need be used in any one service. 


1. SECURE QUIET BY 
a. Quiet instrumental music or 
b. Leader in silence on platform or 
c. Several notes on chimes. 


2. CALL TO WORSHIP BY 
a. Bible verse recited by all or 
b. Devotional stanza sung quietly or 
c. Chorus, quartet, or solo—one stanza or 
d. Bible verse by leader, one-verse response by pupils. 


3. HYMN 
a. Special hymn chosen as hymn for month or 
b. Hymn embodying theme. 


4. SCRIPTURE 
a. Read in concert or 
b. Read by selected group or 
c. Read responsively by leader and group, or by two sections 
of groups, or 
d. Recited by pupil or 
e. Dramatized where passage makes this possible. 


28 


YOUNG PEOPLE IN WORSHIP 


5. SpecIAL Music 
a. Vocal or 
b. Instrumental or 
c. Hymn. 


6. PRAYER 

a. Brief prayers—three to five—led by young people. 
(Suggest in advance theme related to the general 
theme for month.) 

b. Conclude by unison use of 
(1) The Lord’s Prayer or 
(2) Brief prayer on theme for the month printed 

; on programs or fastened in hymn books or 

(3) One verse of prayer hymn. 


7. MESSAGE BY 
a. The leader or 
b. A special speaker or 
c. One or several of the young people. 


8. OFFERING 
a. Brief explanation as to purpose for which gifts are made. 
b. Recognition of God as Source of our gifts. 
(1) Verse of Scripture recited by all or 
(2) Verse of Scripture recited by leader or 
(3) Stanza of a hymn sung by all or 
(4) Stanza of a hymn sung by selected group, as 
solo, or played softly. 
c. Collecting the offering (room very quiet, except for 
instrumental music). 
d. Receiving offering at platform. 
(1) Prayer of consecration by leader or in unison or 
(2) Verse of Scripture recited by all or 
(3) Verse of Scripture recited by leader or 
(4) Stanza of hymn sung by all or 
(5) Stanza of hymn sung by group, or as solo, or 
played quietly. 


9. ANNOUNCEMENTS 


(These should be brief, to the point, given distinctly. Inter- 
est and variety in method should be kept in mind.) 


10. Hymn 
(Chosen to interpret the theme.) 


29 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


11. Brter CLOSING By PRAYER 


a. Leader or 
b. Selected member of group. 


12. BENEDICTION 


a. Unison benediction spoken or 
b. Unison benediction chanted or 
c. Benediction sung by selected group, all joining in Amen. 


GENERAL SUGGESTIONS FOR PLANNING WORSHIP 
PROGRAMS 

Have a purpose for every program. No real worship 

program can be planned without some definite end in view. 

The aim will help to unify the program and make it effective. 


Choose a theme for every service. In most cases it will 
be best to base the worship on the thought of the study of 
the worshiping group, and thus secure some attitude or 
feeling which vitalizes the truth of the instruction period. 
In using the Presbyterian Program for Young People it is 
also important that the theme be allied to that of the quarter, 
so that the worship may contribute to the aims of the entire 
plan. This is made possible for all churches by the use of 
the worship programs found in the Young People’s Year 
Book. They illustrate the way in which one theme after 
another can be carried out in the services which the young 
people plan. 

Achieve unity in each program. After determining the 
purpose of the service and choosing the theme, the next step 
is in the building of the program, making sure that each part 
is a direct contribution to the purpose of the whole. All 
hymns and special music should be in harmony with this 
purpose. The prayer, Scripture-readings, and talks should 
be planned with the theme in mind. Regardless of its effec- 
tiveness or beauty, any part of the program which detracts 
from the main purpose is a disturbing element. 


Prepare in advance. Those who are to take part should 
have ample time for preparation. Programs should be 
planned in advance for a month at atime. The length of the 


30 


YOUNG PEOPLE IN WORSHIP 


service should be determined beforehand and the program 
kept within the time allotted. 


Use young people in planning and leadership. Respon- 
sibility for special programs may be assigned to classes or 
committees appointed for the purpose. Using the same 
people too frequently for the same part of the service should 
be avoided. 


Secure a favorable atmosphere for worship. 

1. Be sure that the room has an atmosphere which makes 
worship possible. It should be clean and never littered with 
old Bibles, hymn books, or quarterlies. If the pictures are 
not suitable, uplifting, and of good quality, take them down. 
A clean wall is better. If there are attendance or bulletin 
boards in the room, keep them up-to-date, or else remove all 
announcements from them. Before the service begins see 
that the temperature and ventilation are right. Neglect of 
these details may result in the defeat of well-planned worship 
programs. 

2. Plan carefully that late comers shall not disturb the 
worship. Use ushers at the doors. Have chairs so arranged 
that the entrance is in the rear. Have seats in the rear for 
late comers. Do not allow them to enter during the progress 
of the service. Have pauses during which they may be 
seated. 

3. Exclude all announcements or business from the wor- 
ship period. Put them before or after. 


31 


CHAPTER Ill 
YOUNG PEOPLE AND INSTRUCTION 


The truth by which men live is not a lucky find. It is not 
discovered in refined and solid nuggets. It is more like the 
gold of Alaskan streams which is gathered only through 
patient sifting and laborious effort. Truth consists of 
golden grains which earnest men seek and find, and separate 
and unite into a treasure of immeasurable value. 

Young people sometimes think that the truth of God and 
his Kingdom is gained more easily. So much of superb 
revelation has come down through the centuries, so much of 
vital knowledge has been gathered, that it seems necessary 
only to open the storehouse and find prepared and ready 
all knowledge and all truth. Fortunately for humanity, this 
cannot be. Although truth is eternal, each one must make it 
a part of his own experience. By his own effort it must be- 
come vital in his life. 

Young people must have knowledge. A common fallacy 
among them is that anyone will fulfill his destiny if his 
heart is right; that if only he does the best he knows, if only 
he is as kind and true as he knows how to be, he cannot fail. 
They seem to believe that God’s will for their lives can be 
discovered without giving time, thought, and energy to the 
study of his Word and the progress of his Kingdom. But no 
one is doing the best he can unless he knows the best. True 
kind-heartedness depends upon full understanding. One 
cannot be true unless he knows to what and to whom he should 
be true. Attitudes of good will, love, kindliness, mercy, and 
generosity without basic knowledge become sentimentality. 
Service to Christ and the Church, when done in ignorance, 
is fruitless and sporadic, mistaken and self-defeating. With 
the heart, God gives a mind. With power, he gives purpose. 
Young people who would serve will develop both. 

During the years between the ages of eighteen and twenty- 


32 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND INSTRUCTION 


three, young people are rapidly gaining knowledge. Some 
are studying in colleges and universities. Others in business 
and industry are learning the fascinating details of com- 
mercial life or beholding the gigantic operations involved in 
the world’s work. The wonders of modern science are con- 
stantly before them. 

Though it may seem so if wrongly presented, nothing of 
this learning can rightly be dissociated from God; nothing 
of this knowledge but has its bearing upon the work of the 
Creator and his purposes among men. All science and all 
culture can be vitalized by an understanding of the spiritual 
realities upon which they are based. New learning and new 
experiences clearly challenge young men and young women 
to become as conversant with the spiritual truths of life as 
with the material, to understand the sacred as well as the 
secular. There is a call to be more than masters of nature’s 
secrets, more than experts in business, more than creators in 
the realm of thought. The challenge is to become all this 
and more—to become masters of eternal truth, to study 
Christ and his Kingdom in order to lead men and the social 
order up to God. 


INSTRUCTION IN THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


Every young person desires that his life shall be of real 
significance, both immediately and in the future. He cannot 
be sure where that life will be placed or in what capacity it 
will be used, but he does yearn so to live and to labor that his 
years of service will be a direct and unquestioned contribu- 
tion to the welfare of men and to the advancement of the 
Kingdom of Christ. 

The purpose of instruction in this Program is to furnish 
the intellectual equipment which must be added to the 
spiritual if the individual’s life is to be significant. All in- 
struction should result in service. Instruction which does 
not create a desire to serve the world fails in its purpose. 
Preparation for service now, and for service throughout life, 
is the goal of study and instruction. 


33 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 





THE AIM OF INSTRUCTION 


To present and interpret the facts of the 
Christian religion, the principles and ideals of 
Jesus, and the history, needs, achievements, and 
methods of his world enterprise as the basis for 
a well-developed Christian character and for 
efficient Christian service. 


THE SCOPE OF INSTRUCTION 

When the term “instruction” is used, the thoughts of most 
readers will turn exclusively to the study period of the 
Sunday-school hour. This is, indeed, an important part of the 
instruction program for young people, but it is by no means 
all. The term is here used to include every portion of the 
church’s program which provides information and instruc- 
tion for the young people as a separate group or with the 
rest of the congregation. Under this definition, it will be 
evident that instruction is most often found in the following: 


1. The sermons and prayer-meeting talks of the pastor. 

2. The Sunday-school lesson period. 

3. Special programs in the Young People’s Department of 
the Sunday school. 

4. The discussional period and special talks in the regular 
meetings of the Young People’s society. 

5. Study classes for young people on missions and other 
subjects. 

6. Week-day meetings with special programs. 

7. Church addresses by missionaries and other speakers. 

8. Individual reading and study. 


When goals are set and plans made for the young people 
of the church, it is obvious that all the channels of instruc- 
tion must be included, to the end that young people may re- 
ceive in a well-organized way the Christian knowledge they 
ought to have. These different channels have all been taken 
into consideration in planning the Building With Christ Pro- 
gram for Young People. The necessity for building this 
instruction into one curriculum in part explains the existence 
of the Program. It eliminates any overlapping of the in- 
struction programs of different organizations. At present 
most churches select a course of study for their Sunday 


34 


wPOUNG PEOPLESANDIINS PRUGTION 
schools, but the instruction received in other places is usually 
- independent of and unrelated to this. By building one in- 
clusive curriculum and assigning different parts of it to the 
different organizations and agencies the gaps produced by 
the former lack of system are avoided. 

The ultimate resuit is to be a standard six-year curriculum 
which will contain in its scope the instruction which young 
people should receive through the church, and which will 
give them in attractive units a “‘college” course of religious 
education. This can be made possible for everyone without 
burden if the program is carefully carried out. 


THE CONTENT OF INSTRUCTION 


Bible study has the first and largest place in the cur- 
riculum, but there are other subjects which are essential if 
character is to be developed for efficient Christian service, 
if the achievements and methods of the world enterprise of 
Christ are to be understood, and if young people are to be 
trained to share in that enterprise. Bible and missions will 
be studied each year. Provision will be made for the other 
subjects at intervals during the period covered by the 
Program. 

The content of instruction for the six-year curriculum is 
arranged under the following headings, though subjects are 
broken up into working units and distributed in various 
organizations and departments of the church. 

Bible. Beginning with the problems in a young per- 
son’s life, such as those of belief and action, social and in- 
dustrial relationship, personal stewardship, life-work choices, 
home and social relationships, the answers to these problems 
are sought in the Word of God. Then the Christ in whom these 
answers are found is studied and, later, the rest of sacred 
history with Christ as the center. Those who preceded him 
and the great plan of salvation which reached its consum- 
mation in his death and resurrection, those who followed and 
carried on his work, making our faith possible, are studied 
in the other units of the course. 

Missions. The courses in missions are planned that the 


35 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


young people may understand the Biblical basis of the mis- 
sionary enterprise, the history of its development, the 
task of to-day, and the part of the Church and each in- 
dividual in the establishment of the Kingdom. 

The Church. This study is included that young people 
of to-day may know the Church through which the gospel has 
come to them, and may be prepared to pass on the heritage 
which it treasures to the youth of to-morrow. 

Stewardship. Christianity as a law of life, involving 
principles of acquisition, saving, spending, and giving, and 
implying responsibility for money, talent, and time, is the 
basis of this study. 

Evangelism. This phase of Christianity enters into 
every program of the Church, and every act of the individual. 
It is presented to young people as their definite responsibility, 
both collectively and personally. Methods of individual 
work in calling men to Christ will make the subject practical 
for those who would be so used. 

Leadership Training. For those who have potential 
ability for leadership, training is planned to equip them for 
work in Sunday school, expressional societies, vacation 
Church schools, week-day Church schools, missionary 
organizations, and clubs. Through units of the Standard 
Training Course offered as electives in the Sunday school 
young people will have opportunity for specialized training. 

Vocations. A Christian conception of the service privi- 
leges in the great professions and vocations is basic to a wise 
choice of life work. Principles of choice are presented from 
the Christian point of view and the maximum preparation 
for service outlined. 

Religious Art. This part of the curriculum is included 
that young people may enrich their lives with the devotional 
treasures of the ages and discover the deeper meanings in 
the music, art, literature, and architecture of the Christian 
Church. 

Health and Hygiene. Personal health standards are 
studied in their relation to the development of a well- 
balanced Christian life. They are presented as‘ involving 


36 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND INSTRUCTION 


not only the individual but also the family life and the well: 
being of the race. Because Christians are responsible for 
the solution not only of community health problems but also 
of those of the world, this study is related to the missionary 
enterprise of the Church as well as to civic citizenship. 

Home and Social Relationships. The Christian home is 
to-day menaced by mighty movements which strike at its 
very heart. Therefore the call comes to youth in establish- 
ing homes to make them centers of gracious Christian in- 
fluence. The difficult problems which the social situation and 
personal friendships present to young people demand earnest 
and frank consideration. This subject in the curriculum is 
planned to meet these needs. 

World Citizenship. The application of the principles of 
Jesus to national and world problems, including the social, 
- industrial, racial, political, and international, is followed by 
consideration of one’s personal responsibility as a Christian 
citizen. 


THE SCHEME OF INSTRUCTION 


It must be remembered that this instruction is not to be 
attempted in any one period, but is to be distributed through 
the various channels mentioned earlier in the chapter. It 
must also be remembered that it will not be covered in a 
one-year course, but is distributed through six years. 
Wherever adequate instruction in any of these subjects is 
being presented to the young people by Christian agencies in 
the community, these portions should not be duplicated in 
the church program. It should, however, be the goal of 
each individual church that in the six years between the ages 
of eighteen and twenty-three its young people shall have had 
the instruction outlined above. Comparing it with what the 
Church has been giving, it is much. Comparing it with what 
young people need, it is little. If the Church is to succeed 
as the teaching institution which the Great Teacher planned, 
both young people and their leaders must surely look upon 
such a program as a minimum rather than a maximum. 

This instruction with its accompanying service and recrea- 


37 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


tion is to be provided by means of a three hour a week 
schedule, supplemented by special meetings. The three basic 
periods are as follows: 

The Sunday-School Hour. This is the most important 
instruction period. The Bible study for each of the six 
years will be based upon the theme for that year. Lessons 
written particularly for Young People, in connection with the 
Program, will be published in the Young People’s Quarterly 
of the Westminster Departmental Graded Series. After use 
in the quarterly, they will be available as electives for use at 
any later time. A special quarterly is issued to aid the 
teacher in preparing the lesson and guiding the discussion in 
class. 

Units of the Standard Leadership Training Course should 
be offered as electives to picked groups of Young People as 
a special preparation for later service in the Church school. 
These electives may be taught at the Sunday-school hour or 
at some other convenient time. Lists of other elective courses 
will be recommended to those who desire them. 

The Young People’s Society Hour. Two forms of in- 
struction enter into the regular meetings of the Young Peo- 
ple’s society. There is the usual discussional and expres- 
sional period, and there are, on the ether hand, special talks 
and lectures which are brought into the program from time 
to time. The plan for each year will contain material and 
suggestions for each of these phases of instruction within 
the society. 

For the special talks and lectures, the Young People’s 
Society Program has suggestions and requirements for in- 
formation on national and foreign missions, stewardship, 
Presbyterianism, Bible study, and prayer. The Year Book 
contains specific recommendations for each year. Material 
may be secured through the proper Board of the Church. 

Special topics for each week have been prepared to use 
with the Program. They are related to the theme of each 
year and particularly to that chosen for the Bible lessons of 
the quarter. The topics chosen in each case will deal with 
some problem growing out of the Bible lesson of the week. 


38 


y 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND INSTRUCTION 


Though it may involve a knowledge of the truths learned in 
the earlier session it will not be a rediscussion of them. 

These topics will appear in the Young People’s Quarterly 
of the Westminster Departmental Graded Series with the 
Sunday-school lessons. A page giving suggestions for the 
meeting will be devoted to each topic. The list of topics, 
with no elaboration, will be found in the Year Books as they 
are issued. 

The topics are intended to be problems for discussion 
which will definitely challenge young people to real thinking 
and help them to work out as a group the answers to per- 
plexing questions of Christian attitude and conduct. The use 
of the discussion method necessitates preparation and study 
so that each one will come with thoughts about the subject. 
It does not, however, contemplate having people reach un- 
alterable conclusions about which they will tell the others. 
It is intended, rather, that all shall come with open minds to 
make their contributions to the discussion and to consider 
their opinions in the light of what others think, so that the 
result may be true group thinking. Societies which are en- 
deavoring to attain a higher standard of individual participa- 
tion will do well to adopt these discussional topics which 
relate themselves so vitally to the rest of the program. 

The Week-Day Hour. This period of instruction is to be 
one part of the program of the Westminster Guild, the 
Young Men’s Fellowship, the organized class, or any other 
club which has regular meetings during the week. Courses 
of study which will point the way to a program of service 
will be suggested. In some cases the program of recreation 
can be linked in a special way to this instruction. Chapters 
in the Year Books will suggest service and recreational 
features related to the instruction. The organizations to 
which this part of the program is assigned should meet 
weekly if possible, but provision is made for those which 
must meet less frequently. Some meetings will be devoted 
entirely to service or to social and athletic activities. But, in 
a quarter of thirteen weeks, it will be possible for groups to 
have six or eight periods of study. The ideal of the Program 


39 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 
is that two of the special courses presented for use in these 
periods shall be completed each year. 

To many churches such a program of week-day instruction 
will appear as the most difficult part of the whole plan for 
young people. But the task must be faced earnestly and fear- 
lessly. The Sunday periods are not and cannot be enough 
for true religious education. If young people are to rise to 
better things and greater accomplishments, if the church is 
to take a step forward, all must labor and pray that the 
week-day period for young people will become an accepted 
and popular part of the Program. While most Westminster 
Guilds and Young Men’s Fellowships will pursue their study 
separately, and while certain themes best lend themselves 
to discussion in separate groups of men and women, yet there 
are certain subjects of instruction where a joint discussion 
would be profitable. When a joint meeting is desired, the 
matter should be taken up through the Young People’s 
Cabinet. The chapters of the Manual dealing with the West- 
minster Guild and the Young Men’s Fellowship, together 
with the Year Book, will furnish full details concerning this 
week-day period and its possibilities. 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES IN YOUNG PEOPLE’S 
INSTRUCTION 

Let young people themselves take the lead in urging 
the inclusion of a full program of religious instruc- 
tion. Adults should give full codperation and en- 
courage the young people in their efforts. 

Hold the teaching of these subjects on as high a plane 
as that in secular institutions of learning. In no 
community in America can the Church afford to 
present God’s truth less effectively than the State 
presents secular truth. 


Let three periods a week, in which there is well-planned 
instruction, be the goal of each church. 
Use the discussion method as far as possible. If the 


leader cannot make the discussion purposeful and to 
the point, some other method should be used. 


40 


( 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND INSTRUCTION 


Urge the church to provide the necessary equipment. 
Secular institutions do not teach without equipment. 


Use the courses written definitely for Young People. 
If the respect of youth is to be gained, the best 


courses available, not the cheapest or easiest, should 
be secured. 


Let the goal of instruction be a life motivated by the 
highest ideals of leadership and service. The courses 
of study are so planned that they will lead naturally 
to a definite program of service. Instruction should 
not end with the mere accumulation of knowledge. 
Every study, every lesson, every item of knowledge 
presented to youth for mastery, is offered that they 
may, through that learning, contribute service which 
will be of eternal value, and leadership which will be 
of ultimate significance. 


41 


CHAPTER igi 
YOUNG PEOPLE IN SERVICE 


The course of Christianity through the ages has been 
a trail of loving service. Marred though it has been at times 
by the mistakes and follies of some of its members, the record 
of the Church has been full of helpful and saving ministries 
to all kinds and conditions of men. In its path have flourished 
hospitals, schools, charitable organizations, social reforms. 
Its heroes have been men and women who have spent them- 
selves for others. Its trails of service cross trackless seas 
and deserts and climb towering mountains to reach those who 
are beyond. The worst barriers of alien race and language, 
of hostility and disease have not balked it. In almost every 
land where it has entered it has finally won its way, no 
matter what the opposition, by its loving ministry to humanity. 

This is not to be wondered at, since it follows Him who, 
even as the Son of God, came not to be served but to serve, 
and whose life story is an amazing record of the pouring out 
of self to the ever-present crowd of poor, sick, defeated. 
hungry, and sinful men who thronged him, until he gave 
himself on Calvary. For a host of Christ’s followers in all 
ages, Paul speaks when he explains his own uncalculating 
and tireless service by saying, “The love of Christ con- 
straineth us.” 

Service, then, has a primary place in the Christian life. It 
is not something added on, it is not a mere by-product, it is 
of the very essence of Christianity. This has been recognized 
in giving service a large place in the Presbyterian Program 
for Young People. 


THE AIM OF SERVICE 
To help to build the Kingdom of God by 
giving practical expression to Christian impulses 
and ideals through Christian living and action. 
As this aim indicates, service in this Program is con- 
ceived not in terms of sporadic and unrelated activities, good 


42 


YOUNG PEOPLE IN SERVICE 


as they may be in themselves, but in terms of purposeful 
work for the Kingdom of God. What an amazing enter- 
prise it is on which Christianity is engaged! Think of taking 
Christ seriously in the world to-day, endeavoring to bring 
his spirit to bear on all life, trying to establish his will in 
business, in public affairs, in international relations. Think 
of the sheer “audacity of faith’ represented in the mis- 
sionary enterprise to-day, in actually attempting to bring the 
good news of Christ to the people who still do not know him, 
and to establish his Church and its work of helpfulness in 
every place and among every group at home and abroad. 
The World War, stupendous as it was, was no such undertak- 
ing as this far-reaching task of the Kingdom. 

There is need of pioneers with tremendous courage, 
idealism, insistence on victory. These are, after all, youth- 
ful qualities, and the young people of to-day possess them 
as much as any other generation in history has possessed 
them. It was largely young men and young women who made 
up the circle of Jesus’ immediate followers and first went 
forth to dare the opposition of the world with the Christian 
message. It has been largely young men and young women 
who have set out as pioneers to great unreached mission 
fields. To-day the youth of the world is astir. To-day the 
Church’s campaign is more difficult and challenging than ever 
before. Should not young people be enlisted in that cam- 
paign of service and sacrifice that shall never end while the 
darkness of illiteracy and superstition exists, while the 
oppression of poverty and injustice is anywhere known, while 
low ideals and hurtful social customs remain, while children 
must toil in factories and mills, while the world besmirches 
the ideals of the young, while any man anywhere knows not 
the love of Christ who “came to seek and to save that which 
was lost’? 

This work of the Kingdom is not a far-away and hazy 
undertaking. The whole world-wide task of the Church 
reaches down into every community and to every Christian’s 
doorstep, into his very heart and mind. He who cares for 
the sick, who visits the lonely, who teaches a class of chil- 


43 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


dren the way of Christ or helps them to play a game 
squarely and with all their might, he who does a humble job 
honestly and cheerfully, he who stands for a high standard 
in life against a low standard, he who shows forth Christ 
in his daily living—he helps to build the Kingdom. After 
all, the Kingdom must come in the hearts of men and 
women, and they are reached one at a time. In brief, what 
has been said is that every Christian is called to be a fellow 
worker with Christ in the greatest enterprise in which man 
ever engaged. It is this that is meant by service in the 
Presbyterian Program for Young People. 


THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE 


Before proceeding farther, one point should be em- 
phasized. It is essential that what is done in the name of 
service be done in a truly Christian spirit. In Christianity 
there is no place for a patronizing attitude, for giving the 
impression of handing down something from a superior 
height to the unfortunate. A woman long interested in mis- 
sions was startled when some one asked her if she would be 
willing toi be helped by a Chinese. She admitted that she 
would not. There is a good deal of selfish satisfaction in 
administering benevolence from a superior position, but this 
is not Christian. Jesus called those for whom he did most 
his friends. What is needed is mutual helpfulness and con- 
sideration. “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fullfil 
the law of Christ.” It is difficult to see how anyone can 
render Christian service to another without really caring for 
him, appreciating his personality, wanting to share life with 
him. True Christian service for any life is sharing the 
best that the Lord has given that life. In the midst of a 
world of selfishness and almost ceaseless competition the 
Christian Church and its various organizations should be 
centers of cooperation, brotherly service, and good will. 


TRAINING FOR SERVICE 


Though deeds of service should come from hearts full 
of good will, care should be taken to guard against well- 


44 


YOUNG PEOPLE IN SERVICE 


intentioned but misdirected attempts to help in situations 
which are not thoroughly understood. There should be oppor- 
tunities for training for those young people who wish to serve 
in positions of leadership. There should be careful investi- 
gation and cooperation with agencies already occupying fields 
of service in the community before plans are initiated. Young 
people should realize the necessity of consistently carrying 
through plans which extend over a period of time. If they 
undertake to supply leadership for a group in a settlement or 
mission Sunday school, they should consider faithfully the 
interests of the group and not be satisfied with a sudden burst 
of enthusiasm followed by a lapse of interest. 


ORGANIZATIONS IN SERVICE 


Organizations, like persons, cannot live for themselves 
alone if they would really live. The great words, “Whosoever 
would save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his 
life for my sake, the same shall save it,’ apply as strongly 
to a church, a Sunday school, or a Christian Endeavor society 
as to an individual person. Those who are really concerned 
about the life of their organizations might well turn from 
schemes for increasing attendance or meeting expenses, and 
prayerfully and thoughtfully seek out what the organizations 
may do to serve Christ actively in their own communities and 
in the farther outreach of the Church’s enterprise. Such proj- 
ects of Christian service will give new life to Sunday-school 
class sessions or Young People’s society meetings, making 
them times for the consideration of vital matters of the 
Christian life. 

Service to Members. Young people’s organizations in the 
church might very helpfully conceive of their whole program 
primarily in terms of service, beginning with their relations 
to their own members. Perhaps it would be well to reverse 
the order of a good deal of the Christian program. Instead 
of beginning with instruction in the hope that it will work out 
into action, a beginning might be made by doing what it is 
clear the Lord would have his followers do, knowing that 
along that road comes fuller knowledge of him. “If any man 


45 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 





willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether 
it is of God.” “Go...and lo, I am with you always.” 

An organization should not exist merely to have interesting 
sessions or to achieve certain standards or to gain desired 
recognition. In a very real sense it exists for the sake of 
its members. An organization should be a center of mutual 
helpfulness and service through which young people aid one 
another to find and live the abundant life. Briefly, some of 
the things young people should find through it are: 


1. Encouragement for stalwart Christian living in the 
common way of life. 

2. Help in finding God and understanding his purpose for 
life. 

3. Help in forming effective habits of prayer and of the 
use of the Bible, in winning others to Christ, in making 
the best use of time, money, talent. 

4. The highest ideals of home, social life, business, politics. 

5. Fine friendships, encouragement in the face of life’s 
temptations. 

6. Encouragement to enjoy good literature, to know the 
great souls of the race, to love beauty, to appreciate 
the out of doors. 


7. Encouragement to seek health and to secure maximum 
preparation for life work. 


One of the surest ways for an organization to serve its 
members is by helping them to see and to carry out the 
Christian service each should render. Every organization, 
therefore, will want to lead its members to reach out into 
wider service. One of the great reasons for lack of interest 
on the part of nominal Christians in the tasks of the King- 
dom of God is sheer lack of information regarding the needs 
of people outside of the usual circle of acquaintance. Young 
people’s organizations should open the windows of the mind 
and heart, push out the horizons of interest, reveal the Chris- 
tian enterprise around the world as the thrilling thing it 
really is. Besides continually inspiring and guiding its mem- 
bers in service, every young people’s organization may well 

46 


YOUNG PEOPLE IN SERVICE 


covet the privilege of sending one or more members into 
the ministry or to the mission field at home or abroad. 

Doubtless some young people will ask, ‘“‘But where are 
there really worth-while things for us to do?’ All around 
are tasks in which the young people should engage either as 
individuals or through their organizations. It is impossible, 
of course, even to mention them all, but some indications of 
the possibilities may be given here. The Year Books as they 
are issued will contain definite suggestions for the service 
program for each year. 

Service in the Individual Church. This will not be pri- 
marily giving of money, much as that may be needed. The 
Church needs lives. ‘There is much to be done for boys and 
girls. There are classes to be taught in Sunday school, week- 
day Church school, vacation Church school. There are, or 
should be, groups of boys and girls in clubs that need leader- 
ship in meetings, on hikes, in athletics, and in other activities, 
Some young people may render fine service by fitting them- 
selves to undertake these responsibilities. Others may help in 
social visiting for the church and in inviting people to special 
services. Young people should seek others for Christ and 
for Church membership. The young people’s organizations 
may help in church services, in ushering, in singing, in having 
charge of a service now and then, and in promoting at- 
tendance and active participation. There are various kinds 
of publicity in which young people may help: making posters, 
caring for bulletin boards, putting notices in local papers, 
distributing church bulletins and notices. Often the Sunday 
school or some other organization needs equipment that the 
young people can supply. 

Service in the Community. The boys and girls of the 
community constitute a field of service and offer a great op- 
portunity to young people. Do the boys and girls have 
enough playgrounds or do they play on the streets? Per- 
haps the young people should help to secure equipment and 
plan recreation. Do the boys and girls have leaders enough 
for their groups and programs? Perhaps the young people 
should supply leadership. Are there bad health conditions 


47 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


among children of the community? Is there child labor? 
The young people should find out what other agencies are 
doing to meet these situations and should cooperate with them. 
Do the boys and girls attend Sunday school or church? The 
young people may make a survey or conduct persistent visita- 
ticn to enroll all boys and girls in Sunday school. Are there 
Sunday schools within reach of all? How could they be 
provided? Are teachers or other helpers needed in mission 
Sunday schools? 

The young people of the community furnish another field 
for service. Persistent and systematic efforts should be 
made to get them all into the church and its organizations, 
but that is not the main objective. What Christian service 
can be rendered them? Are working conditions as they 
should be? Are there lonely young people away from home? 
Are better recreations and wholesome meeting places needed ? 
(The next chapter considers that point.) Perhaps there are 
other groups of young people with whom there should be 
cooperation in community service. 

Many other opportunities for helpfulness are present in 
every community. There may be groups of immigrants who 
could be taught English and trained in citizenship. There 
may be race or class prejudices to be overcome. ‘There may 
be questions of housing, health, standards of living. Hos- 
pitals, community houses, settlements offer opportunities for 
service. In many ways young people may help to build a 
fine, brotherly community. 

Service in the Nation and the World. The young people 
should have a large share in the great undertakings of the 
Church at home and abroad. This work of the Church is 
the work of every member and will not be adequately done 
until every member does his or her share. Certain parts 
of the Church’s work throughout the world have been set 
aside as the particular responsibility of the young people, who 
thus have a very large and definite share in it. Each young 
people’s group should give liberally and pray definitely and 
persistently for this work. Numerous opportunities will 
present themselves for closer contact with the missionaries 


48 


» 


p) 


WOUNG) PEOEREVIN SERVICE 


and mission stations, for example through sending boxes of 
gifts for Christmas. Further suggestions regarding the rela- 
tion of the young people to the missionary work of the 
Church will be found in Chapter VII, and in the Year Book. 

The years covered by this Program are those in which 
young people are entering upon their active duties as citizens 
of America and of the world. They should have a share in 
movements and programs for the public good. Just now 
great and grave issues are pressing for solution: the industrial 
situation, now involving all the world; the race situation, 
national and world-wide; the question of peace or war. 
Active movements are on foot to help in solving these and 
other problems. Christian young people should know about 
them and share in their work. Perhaps as big a service as 
young people can render in these very difficult situations is to 
insist on considering them in a Christian spirit, and on getting 
at the facts and making them known as widely as possible. 
Besides there are generally local situations, where the solu- 
tion of these national and international problems should be- 
gin—situations regarding race or class or industry that are 
of the same nature as these problems that agitate the world. 


SERVING THROUGH GIVING 


Every church organization has a splendid opportunity for 
service through its offerings. The money of a man or an 
organization is a trust and should be used with care and a 
sense of stewardship. There are great causes needing help; 
no organization has a right to take an offering carelessly as 
a matter of course or to give it to an object not understood. 
The organization, be it Sunday-school class, Young People’s 
society, Westminster Guild, or Young Men’s Fellowship, 
should make a study of the causes appealing to it for sup- 
port and search out others that may not have appealed so 
forcefully but may deserve more; then, on the basis of actual 
information, it should work out thoughtfully a budget that 
will assure a wise and Christian use of its money. 

The planning of this budget may well provide the most 
vital and interesting study and discussion that the group has 


49 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


known in a long time. It starts with something in which the 
members are all interested—the use of their money. Does the 
present budget represent a truly Christian expenditure of 
the funds of the group? Is too much being spent on self, too 
little on others? Are the causes to which the money is 
being given worthy? What are they accomplishing and what 
are their needs? Shall more be given them? Are there other 
causes that have been overlooked which should be helped? 
What are they doing? In what proportion should the money 
be divided among the various causes? In such a survey every 
church organization should give chief consideration to the 
work being done by its own Church, locally, nationally, and 
throughout the world. 

The thorough study of these questions raised by the task 
of working out a worthy budget will require an investigation 
of the whole work of the Church at home and abroad, of the 
needs of the community and what is being done to meet 
those needs, and of great Christian and humanitarian enter- 
prises of many kinds throughout the nation and the world. 
Having a real motive, this investigation will be of vital in- 
terest, and will aid in an understanding of what Christianity 
is and is doing to-day. After the initial investigation the 
organization should keep in touch with the causes to which 
its money goes and keep them before all the members by a 
regular program of education. There are interesting pos- 
sibilities here: a world map with lines going out from the. 
city where the organization is located to all the places where 
it is at work through its offerings ; a more detailed map show- 
ing work done in the local community; posters setting forth 
the various causes to which the organization contributes ; pic- 
tures illustrating them; a bulletin board on which are 
posted late news items regarding all this work; and, at the 
end of the year, a full report and perhaps an exhibit at which 
the work will be demonstrated not only to members of the 
organization but to the whole church. 

Without doubt there will be a marked growth in the size 
of the offering and a quickening of interest in it as the mem- 
bers realize the vital share it gives them in the actual work of 


50 


b) 


» 


YOUNG PEOPLE IN SERVICE 


the Kingdom of God. Opportunities for personal contacts with 
the causes the organization helps and for personal forms of 
service for them may present themselves from time to time. 
This efficiently Christian use of the organization’s money may 
also help the members to see the great joy of Christian stew- 
ardship and to use their own money effectively for Christ. 


DISCOVERING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SERVICE 

Those responsible for young people’s work in the local 
church can approach the service program for the year in 
no better way than through a preliminary survey. The pur- 
pose of this survey would be to determine what service can 
be performed by the young people of that church. ‘There 
would be first the assembling of information and then a 
study of the facts to determine what should be done. There 
should be full cooperation with other agencies already work- 
ing in the field. 

The young people of each church should determine the 
scope of their own survey in the light of local conditions. The 
first survey may be as simple as is consistent with securing 
results. In order that the service of the year may be closely 
linked with the theme, the survey should take into considera- 
tion the year’s study and should adapt itself to the kind of 
problem involved. For example, when there is to be a study 
of race relations, the survey should include questions reveal- 
ing conditions existing among the racial groups living in the 
community, such as their home life, their economic and social 
status, their religious and educational opportunities. The 
Year Books will give definite suggestions for service, but 
the local group, with the facts revealed by their investigation, 
will be able to work out more detailed plans. 

The following outline merely suggests questions which 
may be used. Other more concrete questions which apply 
to the local situation should be prepared by the group. 


PRELIMINARY Facts To BE SECURED 
1. Home. 


a. What kinds of service are we as young people giving in our 
homes? 
b. What opportunities for service there are we neglecting? 


ay 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


2. CHURCH. 
a. Personnel. 

(1) What young people in our church are not participat- 
ing in our young people’s work? (List their names.) 

(a) What are the reasons for their lack of interest? 
(b) What are the weaknesses in our young people’s 
work which are hindering their participation? 

(2) What members are advancing during the next year 
from the Senior Department to the Young People’s 
Department ? 

(3) What proportion of our young people are engaged in 
regular service and leadership in the church? 

(4) How many are in training for such service? 

(5) How many more should be enlisted-in order to meet 
future demands? 

b. Organization. 
(1) What organizations for young people are there in our 
church? 
(a) Are there too many or too few? 
(b) Is their work correlated and unified by a Thee 
People’s Cabinet? 

(2) How closely do they approach the standards set forth 

in the Manual? 
c. Opportunities for service. 

(1) To what extent are opportunities for individual serv- 
ice presented to us? 

(2) What material equipment which our church needs can 
we provide? 

(3) How many new teachers will be needed in Sunday 
school this year? 

(4) How can we help in the special efforts of the church, 
such as the every-member canvass, evangelistic 
campaign, church school of missions, or “church 
nights’’? 

(5) Are there organizations for younger people in our 
church for which we can provide leadership? 

(6) Should we start such organizations? 


3. COMMUNITY. 

a. What young people in our community should we reach 
during the year? 

b. What student groups are there in our community? 

c. What young people are there in the community whose 
homes are elsewhere? 

d. What foreign groups in our community should we be 
helping? 


° 52 


» 


YOUNG PEOPLE IN SERVICE 


e In what community efforts and special events should we 
have a part during the year? 

f. What institutions can we help by holding services or pre- 
senting programs of music or entertainment? 

g. Are there small Sunday schools which need help in the 
way of leadership or equipment? 

h, What other forms of Christian service do we carry on in 
the community? 


4. NATION. 

a. How much do we know about Presbyterian national mis- 
sionary work? 

b. What vital contacts do we as young people have with this 
work? 

c. How much are we giving to this work? How much should 
we give this year? 

d. In what national movements for law enforcement, social 
justice, et cetera, should we as Christian young people be 
interested ? 

e. What are we doing to develop friendliness and sympathy 
between peoples of different races? 


5. Wortp. 

a. How much do we know about Presbyterian foreign mis- 
sionary work. 
b. What vital contacts do we have with this work? 

. How much are we giving to this work? How much should 

we give this year? 

d. In what movements for world peace, international justice 
and understanding should we as Christian young people 
be interested? 

e. What can we do to overcome interracial and international 
prejudices ? 


OQ 


SEEKING SOLUTIONS 


With the data assembled, such questions as the following 
which look toward solutions of the problems revealed, should 
be considered : 


1. Home. 
a. What should we as young people include in our program to 
encourage and train us for service in the home? 


2. CHURCH. 
a. How can we widen the reach of our organizations so that 
they may serve those young people who are not now 
interested? 


53 


YOUNG PEOPLE IN SERVICE 


b. What can be done to interest in the work of the Young 
People’s Department those graduating from the Senior 
Department? 

c. How may more young people be enlisted in leadership or 
some other form of service? 

d. What can be done to improve our young people’s organiza- 
tion? 

e. What can we do to help in this improvement? 


3. COMMUNITY. 
a. What can we do to meet community needs revealed by the 
survey? 
b. Are there community efforts already started to help meet 
these needs? What can we do to push them forward? 
c. Which of the possible pieces of service in the community 
should we undertake? 


4, NATION. 
a. What can we do to increase our knowledge of the work of 
national missions? 
b. What can we do to increase our contributions to that work? 
c. What definite steps should we take to develop interest in 
the national movements discovered by the survey to be 
deserving of support? 


5. WortLp. 
a. What can we do to increase our knowledge of the work of 
foreign missions? 
b. What can we do to increase our contributions to that work? 
c. What definite steps should we take to develop interest in 
world movements discovered by the survey to be deserving 
of support? 


The next step is the assignment of specific responsibility 
to definite organizations or committees. As the survey 
should be carried out by the cooperation of all organizations 
for young people, under the direction of the Cabinet, so some 
pieces of service may be carried by them jointly throughout 
the year. In the Year Book, the service activities are sug- 
gested in outline form with references to the organizations 
which can best carry the different activities. 

In the chapters of the Year Book devoted to the Program 
in separate organizations full assignment of the service 
activities is made. Any church which does not have the 
various organizations may distribute the service items in the 


54 


WH 


YOUNG PEO PERSINSSERVICE 

organizations it does have. The great essential is that the 
young people shall give service in and for the church and 
that this service shall be linked with the theme of the year. 

All service depends upon the consecrated labor of the in- 
dividual. The service of organizations is the combined 
service of individuals. Most of the activities suggested can 
be accomplished by the young people in a church where not 
a single organization exists to-day, if there are within that 
church those who are determined to use their hours and their 
days in the Master’s work. A working church composed of 
working groups, which, in turn, are composed of working 
individuals is the ideal contemplated in any program of 
service. 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES IN SERVICE 


. Make a preliminary survey. 

2. Consider the needs of the community and the world. 
Service is selfishness when confined to individual 
churches. 

3. Have a plan and purpose for the year. Each year’s 
program should center in the accomplishment of 
this purpose. 

4. Have young people plan their own service projects. 

. Make plans for training young people for leadership 

and service. 

6. Guard against developing one part of the program 
to the exclusion of the others. 

There should be a well-struck balance; i. e., local work 
should not be supported to the exclusion of mis- 
sions, or vice versa. 

7. Do not overlook any items in the program. The 
definite assignments made aiter the survey should 
prevent neglect of any part of the program. 

8. Make consistent work throughout the year a standard. 
Overambitious starts and early failures are dis- 
couraging. 

9. See that everyone participates. There should not be 

a few overburdened members who do most of 

the work. 


—_ 


cn 


55 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


10. Keep the interests and general abilities of the members 
of the group in mind. Tasks within their powers 
should be suggested. 

11. Avoid overlapping by organizations. The Young 
People’s Cabinet (described in Chapter VI) should 
see that such difficulty is avoided. 

12. Seize opportunities for uniting the efforts of all 
organizations. 

13. Perform all service with Christlike humility, love, and 
happiness. 


CHAE BE RY. 
YOUNG PEOPLE AND RECREATION 


No longer do young people or their leaders ask, ‘Shall we 
have recreation in our church program?” Their question is 
more likely to be, “What kind of recreation shall we have?” 
A more vital query, “Shall we have Christ in our recreation ?” 
should be raised. To put Christ into the recreation of young 
people through their church program is simply to recognize 
the claim of Christ to the whole of life and the need for 
him in it all. 

The God-implanted instinct that leads men to seek com- 
panionship insistently claims expression. Perhaps the need 
for recreation is greater among young people than among 
those of any other age. Many of them are seeking to satisfy 
their fundamental craving for friendship amid associations 
that offer only a travesty of what friendship might be, and in 
places where unwholesome imitations of ‘‘a good time” are 
offered by commercial interests. In order to find the real 
recreation for which they are searching they must have 
leadership to help them in building a program and opportunity 
to carry it out. The church should offer both leadership and 
opportunity. 

Jesus came that men might have life and have it more 
abundantly. The church should not look upon recreation as 
a bait to lure young people within its doors, nor as a con- 
cession to those “who are going to do those things anyway 
and had best do them in the church.” Recreation is valuable 
in itself. A rightly planned program of recreation in the 
church will help young people to live more abundantly. Fur- 
thermore, recreation has a contribution to make to the goal 
for which the church is striving—the building of Christian 
character in the lives of its young people. That character is 
strengthened or weakened by leisure-time activities is well 
known. The church which fails to recognize the significance 
of this fact, which misses the positive values of a recreation 
program, loses a great opportunity. 


57 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 





THE AIM OF RECREATION 


To help young people in finding and develop- 
ing Christian friendship and fellowship, to guide 
them in applying Christian principles and 
purposes to their social and recreational life, and 
to assist them in maintaining their lives on the 
highest possible plane. 


In planning a program with this aim before them, leaders 
will find it helpful to formulate specific objectives. Some 
which might be used are the following: 

To provide a place and occasion for good fellowship. 

To provide wholesome and enjoyable recreation. 

To help to develop virile youth. 

To raise the whole level of social life to the highest Chris- 
tian standard. 

To demonstrate the wholeness of the Christian life and 
help to develop wholesome Christian character. 

To establish the finest standards for relations between men 
and women and to show the joy of comradeship on such a 
basis. 

To overcome narrowness and snobbishness and develop 
inclusive friendships. 


THE SCOPE OF RECREATION 


In order to attain the aim just stated many churches and 
their young people and leaders of young people will have to 
broaden their ideas of recreation and give the term new 
content. To-day the word “recreation” is used to denote all 
those activities which help to recreate, in the literal sense of 
the word, for finer and better living. Those things which 
young people do, not because they must, but because they 
choose; those activities in which they participate with a feel- 
ing of joy and freedom from routine ; those experiences from 
which they emerge cheerful when they have been discouraged, 
relaxed when they have been under nervous tension, stimu- 
lated when they have reached a point of lassitude—all these 
are recreation. Many types are included. There are group 
experiences such as games, music, dramatics, athletics, and 
the fellowship with other young men and young women 
growing out of these events. There are family experiences, 


58 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND RECREATION 


evenings at home when all ages enjoy a good time together. 


There are individual experiences, such as reading and the 
pursuit of various hobbies. The following outline of pro- 
gram content will help to give an understanding of the wider 
meaning of the term. 


PROGRAM CONTENT 


1. INDOOR RECREATION 
a. Parties (as inexpensive as “socials” and much better). 
b. Formal banquets—with best manners and an interesting 
program not all “peppy yells.” 
. Music: orchestra, glee club, choir. 
. Rhythmic games. 
Dramatization. 
. Indoor athletics—group games. 
. Forum and debate. 
. Story hours—suggested home reading. 
Handicrafts. 
. Recreation for others, church, community, home. 


to amie) OOO 


2. OUTDOOR RECREATION 

a. Athletics: tennis, baseball, basketball, volley ball, setting-up 
drills. 

b. Planned Picnics: tournaments, contests, games, camp fires, 
stunts. 

c. Hikes: discovery, kodak, botany, bird, historical. 

d. Hunts: “hare and hounds,” treasure, pirate expeditions. 

e. Rhythmic games. 

f. Dramatization. 

g. Water sports: boat rides, water carnivals. 

h. Festivals. 

i. Winter sports: snow trailing, skating, sledding, snow games. 

j. Camping—woodcraft. 

k. Community celebrations. 


TESTS OF RECREATION 


In order to judge whether or not these activities are really 
valuable in attaining the aim of recreation four tests may be 
applied. Not all of these tests will apply to all types of 
recreation, but every worth-while recreational activity should 
produce positive results in one or more of the tests. 

Does the activity produce physical renewal? The result 
of any activity should be recreation. It should mean, in some 


59 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


measure at least, the developing of muscular strength, bodily 
skill, and physical poise. 

Does it provide mental stimulus? Worth-while recrea- 
tion should be a spur to the imagination; should quicken 
reason and sharpen the perceptions of the young people. It 
should help them to acquire good taste and open up to them 
new fields of interest. 

Does it result in social broadening? There should be 
widening friendship circles as the result of worth-while 
recreation. There should be new understanding of the happy 
possibilities of sincere comradeship between young men and 
young women and higher standards of relations between 
them. Understanding and appreciation of other people should 
be increased and that understanding extended to include 
people of different social status, of different nationalities and 
races, and of different ages. 

Does it aid in a spiritual awakening? As the preceding 
tests are met there will come to the young people a new 
knowledge of God. They will have new zest in living and 
will recognize that their strengthened bodies are indeed the 
temples of the living God. Their quickened minds will see 
God in the tasks of every day, in the out of doors and in the 
achievements of man—art and science and industry. Their 
broadened social consciousness will help them to see God in 
others—even in apparently unlovely folk. They will start 
eagerly upon the adventure of discovering the best in life. 
They will have standards of recreation which they can apply 
wherever they may be. 


BUILDING AN ATTRACTIVE RECREATION PROGRAM 

In the face of the lure of many more or less questionable 
attractions to-day will a thoroughly Christian program of 
recreation appeal to young people? Confronted with the 
cheapening of the relations between young men and young 
women which has occurred in some quarters, can the Church 
put these relations on the high plane of chivalry, mutual 
respect, and Christian comradeship? Can young people have 
a thoroughly Christian atmosphere and spirit, virile athletics, 


60 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND RECREATION 


hearty competition, sheer fun, jolly social life? The young 
people to whom the planning of this part of the program is 
assigned must believe that recreation under Christian auspices 
and in the Christian spirit can be made more attractive and 
satisfying to the young people themselves than any other type 
of recreation. It can! 

The committee’s task will not be easy. At times it will be 
inspiringly hard. Patience and careful preparation will be 
required if the social events are to be delightful in every 
respect. With the help of the excellent books of plans given 
in the Bibliography and with experience the committee will 
grow skillful. At least the task will never be tiresome. Origi- 
nality will help to make up for lack of equipment, imagina- 
tion will help the tiniest bit of money to turn an ordinary 
room into a place of delightful charm, and a fine spirit of 
hospitality will bring out the social qualities of backward, 
shy guests. 

In making plans for recreation there should be an effort 
to have one complete and satisfying program for all the 
young people of the church. In order to do this some group 
must sit down and consider what recreation the church should 
offer its young people, what the present plans of the different 
organizations for the coming year are, and how these plans 
may be made more effective. The Young People’s Cabinet 
is the group which would naturally do this. (See Chapter 
VI.) 

In considering plans for recreation for the year it should 
be kept in mind that the program should be balanced and 
varied to meet the needs and tastes of all the young people. 
The outline of Program Content (see p. 59) will be helpful 
in suggesting varied types of recreation. Though the pro- 
gram should begin with the present interests of the group it 
should try to enlarge those interests. 


SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL EVENTS 


1. Have a central idea or theme for every party or 
outing. About this theme may be built the invitations— 
both individual and poster—the decorations, the games, and 


61 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


the refreshments. In developing the theme, plans should be 
consistent throughout. Red, white, and blue crépe paper 
streamers as decorations for “An African Palaver” or re- 
freshments served in fancy china at a “Poverty Party” are 
quite inappropriate. Consistency does not necessarily mean 
elaborateness. Simple decorations can be effectively used to 
create atmosphere. The wrong side of wall paper, painted 
even so crudely that parts of the scenery have to be labeled, 
makes an interesting scenic border. Simple but appropriate 
refreshments suggested by the theme should be served. If 
no new games to carry out the theme seem to be available, 
old games may be given new names and adapted to suit the 
need. 

The theme may be expressed in a name which will be 
suggestive and will also quicken the curiosity of the guests. 
“A Night in Wonder Wonder Land” is more alluring than 
“A Halloween Social” and “A Jaunt to Old Japan” than “A 
Mission Study Class Hike.” Themes will be suggested by 
the seasons, the holidays, and recreation textbooks. The life 
of other peoples offers rich possibilities for building distinc- 
tive social events. A card file or a loose-leaf notebook for 
new ideas about parties, games, stunts, decorations, recipes 
for refreshments, poster designs, and songs will help the 
committee in its work. 

2. Plan your program as definitely as possible. A 
prompt beginning and a definite time for ending help to 
make an event successful. It is wise to work up to a definite 
climax and then stop instead of letting the occasion peter out. 
Variation in the type of games and entertainments is a wise 
principle to follow. After an event in which the entire group 
participates there may be one in which a few people entertain 
the rest. It is wise to plan a few more games than will be 
needed. Then if any particular game should not seem to 
interest the group another may be substituted immediately. 
Even a game which the group enjoys should not be played 
too long. If a game is stopped while everyone is still enthu- 
siastic it can be used again at another event. The environ- 
ment and equipment should always be considered. Some 


62 


au 
oe 


p) 


> 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND RECREATION 


plans may require space; others may make a stage or plat- 
form necessary. 

3. Appoint a director for each party or outing. The 
director should personally supervise the carrying out of the 
program, using as many assistants as he needs to welcome 
guests, lead games, and serve refreshments, but keeping 
control in his own hands. He, or she, will need to possess 
enthusiasm and self-control. He must be capable of giving 
clear directions, of seeming to suggest rather than dictate. 
He must be able to discover leaders, to keep discipline 
through group action, and to draw the line between Jjollity 
and boisterousness. The director’s task will be simplified by 
the presence of a few congenial adults. 

4. Reach as many young people as possible. If the 
invitation is given by general announcement provide a poster 
on which those who expect to come can register. This will 
make known the approximate number to be expected and will 
be an additional advertisment. Newcomers should be invited 
to enter into the other activities of the Young People’s 
Department. In this way social events may become a means 
of recruiting new members. 

5. Make imagination an active assistant in planning. 
More thought than money should be spent. The very sur- 
roundings will suggest games. For instance, a blackboard on 
a wall may be, instead of a distraction, a place to draw 
scenery or the opportunity for a chalk relay race in which 
pictures of famous men, or of Santa Claus, are drawn a 
feature at a time by the racing lines of guests. 

6. Plan your program prayerfully. Recreation is a vital 
part of the life of young people. It may be made an effective 
means of character-building. Those who plan it should 
approach the task in a prayerful spirit and should seek defi- 
nite guidance in doing their work. 


RELATION OF RECREATION TO WORSHIP, 
INSTRUCTION, AND SERVICE 


Recreation should be considered an integral part of the 
whole Young People’s Program and social events should be 


63 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


related to the elements of instruction and worship. A 
“Persian Party,’ for instance, may arouse interest to be 
continued in a study course on Persia which will be con- 
cluded by a beautifully worshipful pageant. The ideas of 
loyalty, team play, and the like, developed in athletics, may be 
carried over to committee work in class and society. Through 
games of other countries an understanding of their peoples 
may be developed which will prove valuable in other parts of 
the program. 

A party given by the young people for a student group, a 
foreign group, or a group of neglected children will be a 
worthy service project. Plays or programs of varied enter- 
tainment can be given in homes or as community projects. 


CONCERNING ATHLETICS 


Many churches let their programs of recreation begin 
and end with social events, but their young people really 
need the physical activity of a program of athletics. If 
young people are to maintain “their lives on the highest 
possible plane,’ they need to exercise, in order to keep 
healthy and well and to develop their physical strength. 
Though strong spirits have overcome the handicap of weak 
bodies, the person who is strong physically can give longer 
and more active service. 


In many communities, young people of this age connected 
with the church have very little chance for athletics or for 
enjoyable exercise. A church which is really attempting 
to help them to find abundant life should seek to provide 
such opportunities. Through a program of athletics under 
its own direction, the church can hope to set the highest 
ideals of fair play, loyalty, and Christian sportsmanship. 


The aim should be to include everyone in the program. 
Competitive sports with good teams may be encouraged, but 
the emphasis should be placed upon participation by everyone 
rather than the development of individual stars. This may be 
accomplished to some extent by a varied program appealing to 
the interests of different people. Not only basketball and 


64 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND RECREATION 


baseball should be included, but also tennis, soccer, handball, 
swimming, skating, track and field sports, and hiking. 

Concerning Lack of Equipment. Some churches seem to 
believe that because they have no equipment they are released 
from responsibility for putting on a varied program of 
recreation for their young people. They should undertake 
to discover ways and means of overcoming this difficulty. A 
church may sometimes hire for the use of its young people 
on one night a week a public gymnasium or a gymnasium 
belonging to a public or private school. There may be 
bowling alleys in town which the church group can make 
arrangements to use for a certain period. When equipment 
has been secured, arrangements should be made for super- 
vision of the athletic periods so that they may be most effective 
and so that danger of injury or overexertion may be guarded 
against. Even those who have good equipment should make 
every effort to provide a program which will insure its best 
use. 

But if no gymnasium can be secured there are some kinds 
of work which might be pursued in a large room connected 
with the church. In the most extreme cases, where absolutely 
no gymnasium work or indoor athletics can be provided, 
there is still the out of doors. City groups can arrange 
skating or coasting trips in the winter. Summer time presents 
the opportunity for swimming and canoeing. By making 
definite plans and carefully carrying them out, hiking can 
be made most enjoyable. A definite destination should be 
selected—an historic spot, some place of natural beauty, a 
camp site or resting place at the end of a route through 
country which affords interesting nature study. The abilities 
of the group should be considered, and long hikes led up 
to gradually. There should be plenty of food for the 
hungry group. The art of cooking outdoors is an accom- 
plishment which all young people should acquire. 


GUIDEPOSTS OF THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM 


1. Include as participants the largest number possible. 
The program should be varied to meet different inter- 


65 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


ests, and definite efforts should be made to prevent the 
small group who are particularly athletic from making 
the play too vigorous for the majority. 

2. Plan the schedule carefully. Allowance should be made 
for the working hours of young people and the other 
responsibilities which they have. 

3. Encourage interchurch and community athletic move- 
ments. Young people should insist on the highest 
standards of sport in these relationships. Athletic 
competition within the church should demonstrate 
clearly that hard competition can be carried on in a 
Christian spirit. 

4. Do not be discouraged by lack of equipment. Efforts 
should be made to overcome this difficulty. There are 
suggestions in this chapter. 

5. Remember that recreation is not the whole program. 
Its relationship to the week-day periods of study and 
service should be so controlled that athletics will be 
a contribution to rather than a distraction from the 
main purpose of the program. 

6. Secure trained supervision wherever possible. An un- 
guided athletic program offers dangers which should 
be guarded against. 


A BALANCED PROGRAM OF RECREATION FOR EACH 
INDIVIDUAL 

The church should not only offer social and athletic events 
as a part of its recreational program, but should also help 
each young person to plan his own recreation intelligently. 
In addition to what is done with the group, the individual 
should have his own special interests. Some meetings might 
be devoted to the stimulation of interest in hobbies such as 
reading, drawing, nature study, popular science, photography, 
and an infinite variety of other things. 

Perhaps the best way to create enthusiasm about finding 
out how well-balanced the individual programs of recreation 
are would be to have each young person keep a record of 
leisure time for a week. The group should work out the 
questions to be answered. Some queries which might be 
included are: How much time is spent in active exercise? 


66 


») 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND RECREATION 


How much watching others play? How much in reading? 
How much in going to the moving pictures or theater? How 
much in work at a hobby or avocation? How much in rest- 
ing? How much in idling? When the results are reported, 
attractive posters might be worked out showing the average 
time for each thing, or there might be an informal presenta- 
tion of the typical use of leisure time. With the interest 
aroused by this method, it should be easy to help each one 
to work out a well-planned time budget, making sure to 
provide for the varied types of recreation needed. 


APPROACHING THE RECREATION PROGRAM 


In determining the exact program of recreation to be 
undertaken in an individual church, it is necessary to have 
at hand certain information. This can usually best be ob- 
tained by a survey. No one need be discouraged by the 
technical name, for it does not involve anything intricate or 
impossible for any intelligent group of young people. 

In simple terms it means that before beginning the year’s 
work, a group should find out the facts about recreation for 
young people in its own church and community. Where the 
young people are organized under the correlated plan, the 
Cabinet should see that the proper committees in each or- 
ganization cooperate in this work; under the unified plan, 
the Recreation Committee would be responsible. For secur- 
ing data, such questions as the following might be used: 


1) CHURCH: 


a. What organizations for young people have included 
recreation as a part of their program? 

. What events are included in this program? 

. How many young people have been reached? 

. Is there any clique spirit which limits the number 
participating ? 

e. What other things prevent securing the interest 

of all young people? 
f. Is there variety in the types of recreation offered? 
g. Is there equipment which might be utilized? 


67 


giao 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 





h. Has any provision been made for putting books on 
recreation into the hands of those responsible 
for conducting it? 

i. Is there need for study of the whole significance of 
recreation in the lives of young people? 


2. COMMUNITY. 

a. Where do the young people find their recreation ?. 
In clubs or lodges? In homes? In the church? 

b. What commercial amusements in the community 
do the young people of the church patronize? 

c. What standards are maintained by those who con- 
trol these amusements? 

d. Do young people go to them because they find in 
them what they really want or because there 
is nothing better to do? 

e. Do those forms of recreation in which young people 
actually take part or those at which they are 
onlookers predominate? 

f. How many of the young people share actively and 
how many are passive? 

g. What valuable and necessary forms of recreation 
are not provided for the young people of the 
community ? 

h. What young people in the community should be 
reached through the recreation program of this 
church ? 


With the information at hand, such questions as the follow- 
ing should be asked before building the program: 


1. CHURCH. 

a. What parts of the recreation program should be 
continued and strengthened ? 

b. What parts should be omitted in order to make 
room for greater variety and new features? 

c. What additional types of recreation should be 
added to the program such as gymnastics, 
games, indoor and outdoor sports, hikes, 
picnics, dramatics and pageantry, festivals in 
celebration of special days? 

d. How may equipment or facilities be secured? 


68 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND RECREATION 


e. How may the program be made interesting to the 
young people? 

f. What events might the young people plan for 
other groups in the church, as, for instance, 
fathers and mothers or younger age groups? 


2. COMMUNITY. 

a. How can desirable forms of amusement which are 
lacking in the community be provided? 

b. What can be done to improve the standards of the 
commercial amusements? 

c. In what community festivals should the young 
people participate? 

d. What interchurch social and athletic activities 
should be promoted during the year? 


Nw 


A PRACTICAL PROGRAM 


The program of recreation suggested should be practical 
in any church, no matter what size or how organized. The 
Recreation Committee can begin very simply, choosing from 
the possible items those which seem to meet the present 
situation and enlarging the program as the leaders develop 
skill and the young people, interest. 

Recreation should not be overemphasized, but it should be 
given its deserved place in the development of Christian 
young people. 


ee 


69 





PART II 
THE PROGRAM IN THE 
ORGANIZATIONS 





CHAN PE er 


THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S SECTION 
OF THE CHURCH 


The first five chapters of this book have attempted to make 
clear the claim that every person must have for the develop- 
ment of his Christian life a well-balanced program including 
worship, instruction, service, and recreation. If this is to be 
achieved there must be a plan of organization that gives 
reasonable promise of success. After a careful study of the 
problem it is evident that, while conspicuous changes in 
organization are not essential, there are adjustments that 
must be made to unite all the young people in the task of 
promoting a unified program. 

As the work of the church develops certain things receive 
especial emphasis from time to time. In work with young 
people, unity of program and solidarity of age group are 
receiving special emphasis now. Young people at different 
ages in their lives have very different characteristics and 
interests. Recognizing this, the whole group of adolescents, 
ranging from twelve to twenty-three years of age, is divided 
into three age groups, namely: the Intermediates, twelve to 
fourteen years of age—junior high-school age; the Seniors, 
fifteen to seventeen years of age—senior high-school age; 
and Young People, eighteen to twenty-three—beyond high- 
school age. It is this third group, technically called Young 
People, that constitutes what is called in this chapter the 
Young People’s Section, or Young People’s age group, of 
the church. These six years cover a period of life when 
interests and development are much the same for all. 

Each individual church should have a great ambition to 
reach this group of young people, to help to provide the 
essentials of a Christian character, to give the necessary 
training for constructive Christian leadership, and to enlist 
all in the great task of the Kingdom. 


73 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


It is the aim of this chapter to point out ways in the field 
of organization whereby the church may unite all the young 
people under sympathetic adult leadership in a program so 
carefully planned for this group that the church will find it 
easier than in the past to achieve her purpose for them. It 
should be clearly understood that, while the plan suggested 
on the following pages keeps in mind the age group eighteen 
to twenty-three, it will not be impossible to include those a 
little below and a little above that age line, where local 
conditions seem to make it necessary. Several factors in 
addition to age should be used as a guide in determining 
the age group to which one belongs. Just as far as possible, 
however, a church should organize and develop the Young 
People’s Section as a unit. 


WHERE ARE YOUNG PEOPLE FOUND IN 
THE CHURCH? 

A careful survey would be necessary to locate all the 
young people in any church, but in most churches there are 
well-known places where they are found. 

First, there is the group composed of those who are 
Church members, and those not members who attend the 
services of worship and midweek prayer meetings more or 
less regularly. Second, there are young people in the Sun- 
day school. While for most Church members the Sunday 
school provides only one part of their Christian training, for 
many young people this organization provides their only 
contact with the Church. Third, there are young people in 
Young People’s societies, organizations that have contributed 
to the development of leadership qualities in young people. 
Fourth, there are young people in a variety of special clubs, 
of which the Westminster Guild for young women is well 
known. For young men, there are a few Ushers’ Associa- 
tions, some Athletic Leagues, and a number of Brotherhoods. 
Fifth, there is a group consisting of those who have enrolled 
in the special classes for Leadership Training and are engaged 
in practical leadership, such as Sunday-school teachers and 
leaders of clubs and societies for younger boys and girls. 


74 


SS 


CLE Ow NGzE COPLEY S SEG RON OR THE CHURCH 


A WELL-BALANCED PROGRAM FOR ALL 


In the past each organization for young people has had its 
own program. ‘The leaders of the different organizations 
have not been brought together to study needs, to consider 
possible overlappings, or to build a unified program. Fur- 
thermore, when some young people have had only one con- 
tact with the church, it has often been impossible to make 
them feel the necessity for additional training which would 
be a complement to that already received. 

To overcome these weaknesses, the plan set forth in this 
Manual presents one inclusive program for all Young People 
in the church. Behind the Building With Christ Program 
is the desire to bring to every young person in the church the 
fullest opportunity for developing a Christian life. The main 
concern is that the church make available for all young 
people the worship, instruction, service, and recreation neces- 
sary and desirable. 


ORGANIZING THE AGE GROUP 


However promising a program may be, it will be effective 
only through a practical method of organization for carrying 
it out. To attain this plans are recommended for organizing 
the entire Young People’s Section. This is practical in a 
church large or small, in city or country, with volunteer 
workers or with a paid director. 

Two plans are suggested. One is called the correlated 
plan of organization, the other the unified plan of organiza- 
tion. Both are subject to modification locally in order to 
meet local conditions. If the entire group of Young People, 
with its adult leaders, is to be united in undertaking the 
complete program, the organization will embody in principle 
one or the other of the two plans suggested. 

It is impossible to say without a knowledge of the local 
situation which plan is preferable. The decision must be 
made by the church in the light of all of the factors involved. 

The Correlated Plan. This way of organizing the 
Young People’s Section of the church necessitates compara- 


75 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


tively little change in the organizations now existing for 
young people in many churches. Each organization within the 
Section, such as the Young People’s Department in Sunday 
school, the Young People’s society, the Westminster Guild, 
and so forth, maintains its identity, and each has its officers, 
but all the organizations are so intimately related that a 
unified program is practicable. Each organization makes a 
constructive contribution to the carrying out of the complete 
Program. The cooperation is made effective through a 
Cabinet, the membership of which represents all the organi- 
zations concerned. This Cabinet is more fully discussed 
later (page 77). In Chapers VIII—XI the different phases 
of the program for each organization are presented fully. 

The Unified Plan. This way of organizing the Section 
is advocated by many as ultimately the most effective. It is 
suggested that a unified program quite naturally calls for a 
unified leadership, which requires for most effective results a 
unified organization. The unified plan therefore is built on 
the basis of one organization for all the young people of the 
age group, with one set of officers. According to this plan 
while there is but one organization all the young people meet 
for activities that under the correlated plan are carried on 
by different organizations. For example, all the young 
people meet on Sunday for worship and study at the Sunday- 
school hour ; all meet for a devotional and discussion meeting 
on Sunday evening at the usual time of the Young People’s 
society ; the young men and the young women meet separately 
on a week night for club activities, the meeting of the young 
women being recognized as the Guild and the meeting of the 
young men as the Fellowship. 

In the unified plan the one set of officers corresponds in the 
main to those which are usual in an organization, such as 
president ; one or more vice presidents, one of whom should 
be a young woman; corresponding secretary ; recording secre- 
tary; and treasurer. There is also one set of committees. 
Each of these committees would naturally assume responsi- 
bility for one phase of the program. There would be, there- 
fore, a Committee on Worship, on Instruction, on Service, 


76 


THE YOUNG: PEOPLE'S SECTION OF THE CHURCH 


and on Recreation. Other permanent committees would be 
added as needed. Each committee would be responsible for 
its particular phase of the work at all the different meetings 
of the group. If some other alignment of committees is 
found desirable the individual church may work out that 
which seems most practicable. 


THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S CABINET 


According to either of the above plans a Young People’s 
Cabinet is essential. Its function is to determine what shall 
be attempted as a program for the entire Young People’s 
Section. It must also see that the whole Program is carried 
out in the way that is best suited to the individual church and 
that will reach the largest number of young people. It is 
the clearing house for all Young People’s work in the church, 
so that duplication of plans by various groups may be 
avoided. 

Membership Under the Correlated Plan. Each organi- 
zation concerned should have membership in the Cabinet, 
and the session of the church should be represented. The 
smallest group possible would include: 

1. From the session of the church: the pastor, the director 

of religious education, or some delegated member. 

2. From the Sunday school: if the Young People’s De- 
partment is organized, its president and adult 
adviser; if not, one adult and one young person 
selected by the Young People’s classes. 

3. One person, usually the president, from each of the 
following organizations: Young People’s society, 
Westminster Guild, Young Men’s Fellowship. 

Membership Under the Unified Plan. Under the unified 
plan the Cabinet would consist of the pastor, the director of 
religious education, the adult adviser of the Young People’s 
Section of the church; the officers of the Young People’s 
Section; and the chairmen of the permanent committees. 
This would be the minimum for the Cabinet. 

Adjustment to Local Conditions. The average church 
will set up its Cabinet under either plan by choosing repre- 
sentatives in such a way as best to meet the local needs. It 


77 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


is not essential that the Cabinet be composed of the smallest 
group possible, as indicated in the correlated and unified plans 
above. ‘The number may be enlarged very easily. To some 
there is a distinct advantage in having the group called the 
Cabinet composed of almost all the leaders, including all the 
Sunday-school teachers of the Young People’s Section, so 
that all help to form the plans and therefore become inter- 
ested in carrying them out. There are those also who rec- 
ognize the advantages of a small group in that it is not so 
cumbersome, is more easily assembled, and can work more 
conveniently than is possible for a large group. 

Organization of the Cabinet. It is suggested that the 
Cabinet should have a very simple organization with a presi- 
dent and a secretary. This is recommended because the 
Cabinet is largely a group concerned with the task of deter- 
mining the program and making assignments of that program 
and not with the task of carrying out the program. In a 
church where the Cabinet consists of all the leaders vitally 
concerned with Young People there should be an Executive 
Committee consisting of a small number of the outstanding 
leaders which could meet more frequently than would be 
possible for the whole Cabinet. In such case the Executive 
Committee would assume responsibility for action necessary 
between meetings of the entire Cabinet. 

It is expected that in the unified plan there will be meet- 
ings occasionally of the entire age group in a business session 
for transacting business just as there are meetings in a 
Young People’s society for transacting the business of that 
society. The chart on page 80 illustrates the organization 
scheme for the correlated plan and the chart on page 79, 
the organization scheme for the unified plan. 

Duties of the Cabinet. The Cabinet should study very 
thoroughly, months in advance, the entire program for the 
age group. To this end the Year Book should be available. 
This is issued in the early summer of each year and outlines 
the program beginning with October and running for twelve 
months through September of the following year. The 
Cabinet will also determine in the main how the different 


78 


THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S SECTION OF THE CHURCH 


CHART OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE YOUNG 
PEOPLE’S SECTION OF THE CHURCH UNDER 
THE COMPLETELY UNIFIED PLAN 


CABINET OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE's SECTION OF THE 


CHURCH 





Pastor or Director of Religious Education. 
Adult Adviser of the Young People’s Section of the 
Church. 
President (Student) of the Young People’s Section 
of the Church. 
Director of Worship for Young People. 
Director of Instruction for Young People. 
Director of Service for Young People. 
Director of Recreation for Young People. 


Chairmen of Special Committees. 
| Teachers of Classes for Young People. 


COMMITTEE 
ON 
WorsHIP 


Acting as 
Director of 
Worship. 


Students 
and 
Teachers 
as 
Members 
of the 


Committee. 


COMMITTEE 
ON 


INSTRUCTION 


Chairman|Chairman 


Acting as 
Director of 
Instruc- 
tion. 


Students 
and 
Teachers 
as 
Members 
of the 


Committee. 


SPECIAL 


COMMITTEES 


Students 
and 
Teachers 
as 
Members 
of the 


Committees. 


COMMITTEE 
ON 
SERVICE 


Acting as 
Director of 
Service. 


Students 
and 
Teachers 
as 
Members 
of the 


Committee. 


COMMITTEE 
ON 


RECREATION 


Chairman|Chairman 


Acting as 
Director of 
Recreation. 


Students 
and 
Teachers 
as 
Members 
of the 


Committee. 


ALLEY OUNG PEOPLE OF THE CHURGH 
BETWEEN THE AGES OF 18 AND 23 





MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


CHART OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE YOUNG 
PEOPLE’S SECTION OF THE CHURCH UNDER 
THE CORRELATED PLAN 


CABINET OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE’s SECTION OF THE 
CuHurcH (Minimum Membership) 


Pastor or Director of Religious Education. 

Superintendent or Adult Adviser of Young People’s 
Department in Sunday School. 

President of Young People’s Department in Sun- 
day School. 

President of Young People’s Society (Christian 
Endeavor). 

President of Westminster Guild. 

President of Young Men’s Fellowship. 





| | | 


YouNG PEOPLE’s | YOUNG PEOPLE’S}| WESTMINSTER | YOUNG MEN’s | 
DEPARTMENT OF |SociETY (Chris- GUILD FELLOWSHIP 
SUNDAY SCHOOL |tion Endeavor) 


Superintendent 
or Adult Ad- 
viser. 
President President. President. President. 
(Student). 
CouNCIL EXECUTIVE EXECUTIVE EXECUTIVE 
CoMMITTEE CoM MITTEE COMMITTEE 
Presidents of| Vice President. | Vice President. | Vice President. 
Organized| Secretary. Secretary. Secretary. 
Classes. Corresponding| Treasurer. Treasurer. 
Teachers. Secretary. Chairmen of|Chairmen of 
Chairmen of|Chairmen of} Committees. Committees. 


Committees! Committees. 
and Special 
Activities. 





ALL YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE CHURCH 
BETWEEN THE AGES OF 18 AND 23 








THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S ‘SECTION OF THE GHURCH 


phases of the program may best be carried out. For example, 
the Presbyterian Program for Young People requires courses 
on Bible, missions, stewardship, and other subjects. If the 
correlated plan is being used, the Sunday school would doubt- 
less be best equipped to teach the Bible courses and the 
Cabinet would naturally assign to it that responsibility. The 
mission courses might be assigned to the Westminster Guild 
or Young Men’s Fellowship, or, if these organizations did 
not exist, to the Young People’s society. The responsibility 
of the Cabinet is to see that all important parts of the Pro- 
gram are provided for the Young People. If an organization 
which would normally have a share in the program is not 
found in a church, the programs of the others which are 
there should be expanded and enlarged to meet the needs. 

What has been said applies not only to subjects of study 
but also to service, worship, and recreation. For example, if 
there are Young People who attend only the Sunday school, 
while the service and recreation parts of the Program are 
carried mainly by the Young People’s society, the West- 
minster Guild, and the Young Men’s Fellowship, the Cabinet 
will want to be sure that these particular Young People are 
taken into the plans for service and recreation and made to 
feel that they have a definite share in these activities. At 
regular intervals the Cabinet should review what is being 
done, hear reports from the several organizations or commit- 
tees, and plan for appropriate new work. 

Certain parts of the Program should be carried out under 
the direct supervision of the Cabinet. ‘The service survey de- 
scribed in Chapter IV is one instance. The particular responsi- 
bility for this survey might be put on a joint committee made 
up of the chairmen of the appropriate committees of the sev- 
eral organizations under the correlated plan or on the Com- 
mittee on Service in the unified plan. When the survey has 
been made, the committee may recommend to the whole Cab- 
inet definite projects of service that should be undertaken 
and the organizations or groups through which each enter- 
prise should be carried out. The same committee may see 
that in planning the year’s program service has a proper 


81 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


place and that plans of service related to the theme of 
the year are carried out. The committee may be given re- 
sponsibility for general oversight of service throughout the 
year, reporting to the Cabinet at regular intervals. 


HOW TO LAUNCH THE PROGRAM 

When a church wishes to introduce the Presbyterian Pro- 
gram for Young People, the place to start is with some 
interested individual or group. The ultimate responsibility 
for the educational program of the church rests of course 
with the session and its indorsement and hearty cooperation 
should be secured. If the church has a Council of Religious 
Education, the way to approach the matter would be for the 
individual or group to ask the Council to call a meeting of 
interested leaders to talk over the Program. Where a Council 
does not exist any informal method is quite practicable. The 
following steps are usually advisable: 

1. The pastor, some adult in the church, or some of the 
young people may have heard of the Age Group 
Program and desire to have it carefully considered. 
This person or group of persons should assume 
responsibility for initiating the plan, 

2. Information about the Program should be placed in the 
hands of those who are especially interested in 
Young People’s work. 

3. When this group has had time to read the literature, 
the group should spend an evening in talking over 
plans, and determining whether or not in their 
judgment the Program should be adopted. 

4. A meeting of all the Young People with adult advisers 
should next be held. At this time the whole matter 
should be carefully explained and the Young People 
given opportunity to express themselves regarding 
the advisability of using the Program. 

Just as soon as a Cabinet is formed it will assume the 

leadership as outlined above. 


UNIFYING THE ENTIRE CHURCH PROGRAM 
The work for Young People is but one section of the 
church work. Plans for the Young People must be developed 


82 


THEY OCUNG- PROPLE’S SECTION. OF THE, CHURCH 


so that they are in harmony with the work planned for those 
who are younger and those who are older in the church. 
This practical correlation of the Young People’s work with 
that of the other age groups is usually secured through the 
church Council of Religious Education. If such a council 
does not exist one might be organized, or there might be 
just a Committee on Religious Education, in the church. 
On such a council or committee the Young People’s age 
group should be represented by the president of the Young 
People’s Cabinet and at least one other representative of the 
Cabinet, one of the adult advisers being recommended. 
While it is highly desirable that age-group programs be 
promoted for all the different age groups it is possible for 
the Young People to promote their Program quite indepen- 
dently of other age groups. 

Leadership Training. Many churches have a depart- 
ment for training the future leaders of the church called the 
Leadership Training Department. Occasionally this work is 
confined to one Leadership Training class. It is expected that 
some of the very best of the members of the Young People’s 
age group will be enlisted in this Leadership Training work. 
This is in full accord with the Young People’s Program. 
While Leadership Training classes will usually include mem- 
bers outside the Young People’s age group, all who are 
eighteen to twenty-three years of age should consider them- 
selves a definite part of the age group and share in all its 
activities. Membership in Leadership Training classes should 
by no means cut young people off from hearty participation 
in the activities of their own age group. 

Leaders of Other Age Groups. The service program 
of this age group will often enlist its members in regular 
teaching tasks in other departments and in other tasks of 
leadership quite as exacting. It often happens that such 
young people tend to lose their contacts with the Young 
People’s age group as a whole. This should be avoided, for 
these young people need the constructive help and stimulus 
that the group may provide. One who teaches during the 
Sunday-school period and is therefore deprived of the Young 


83 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


People’s lesson study should be actively enlisted in all other 
phases of the Program. 


ORGANIZATION FLEXIBLE TO LOCAL CONDITIONS 


The general plan of organization suggested is elastic and 
makes adjustment to local conditions easy. Care has been 
taken to avoid suggesting hard and fast rules. Organization, 
necessary as it is, must be secondary to the Program. The 
whole problem of working out a unified program for any 
age group is still in the realm of experiment. The plan is 
essentially a three hour a week plan. In addition there are 
the church worship services planned for all which, it is con- 
fidently expected, the young people will be led to share much 
more fully than in the past. The secret of the plan is “that 
ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one 
accord, of one mind; doing nothing through faction or 
through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting 
other better than himself; not looking each of you to his own 
things, but each of you also to the things of others. Have 
this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” 


84 


Dy) 


CHARA ERG 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE ORGANIZATION 
AND WORK OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 


In addition to the relationships of Presbyterian Young 
People with their own individual churches there are also 
other relationships of very great importance which offer large 
opportunities for service and for development. Through 
Christian Endeavor unions, Sunday-school councils or asso- 
ciations, perhaps through the Young Men’s Christian Asso- 
ciation, the Young Women’s Christian Association, a welfare 
federation, councils of churches, or other organization, they 
are linked up with young people of many other churches 
in numerous plans for serving Christ and the community. 
Such cooperative efforts should have the hearty support of 
all young people. 

This chapter speaks primarily, however, of the wider rela- 
tionships of the young people through the Presbyterian 
organization and work. As most Presbyterian young people 
know, their churches are organized through ministers and 
elders into presbyteries, of which there are about three hun- 
dred; then, usually following state boundaries, into synods, 
of which there are forty-six; and, finally, into a General 
Assembly for the whole country. For over fifty years the 
women and young people of the Church have worked for 
missions through societies organized within the bounds of 
each presbytery. Following the arrangement for synods 
these presbyterial societies are united into synodical socie- 
ties, which are in turn directly related to the Board of 
National Missions and the Board of Foreign Missions. 

The national and world-wide work of the Presbyterian 
Church is carried on under the authority and direction of the 
General Assembly. From time to time in the past, as new 
needs arose, the General Assembly has set up various 
agencies to care for these needs. The whole task is now, 
however, committed to four great Boards. The General 


85 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


Council, also created by the Assembly, is responsible for 
coordinating the work of these Boards and for overseeing 
the work of the Church at large. 

Three of the Boards are vitally interested in work among 
Young People and have Young People’s Departments to help 
carry it on; namely, the Board of Christian Education, the 
Board of National Missions, and the Board of Foreign Mis- 
sions. The Presbyterian Program for Young People has 
been planned by the Board of Christian Education in cooper- 
ation with the two Mission Boards. Representatives of these 
three Boards have worked out the Program and are respon- 
sible for carrying it on, so far as national administration is 
concerned. 


WHERE TO LOOK FOR HELP 


It is to these Boards that the Young People and their 
leaders should look for help in their work. Young People’s 
Work, Board of Christian Education, Witherspoon Building, 
Philadelphia, will gladly furnish information regarding gen- 
eral phases of Young People’s life and work in the churches, 
whether it be the Sunday school, the Young People’s society, 
or other organizations that are concerned. Personal corres- 
pondence regarding the work of any Young People’s group 
is welcomed. Similarly the Department of Young People’s 
Work of the Board of National Missions and the Young 
People’s Department of the Board of Foreign Missions, both 
located at 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City, will welcome 
correspondence with young people regarding all missionary 
activities and interests. The secretaries of these Depart- 
ments of the three Boards are eager for as wide personal 
contacts as possible with the young people of the Church, 
and welcome the opportunity of being present whenever pos- 
sible at such gatherings as young people’s rallies for cities 
or presbyteries. 


RELATIONSHIPS 


To the Presbytery and to the Presbyterial Society. 


Every group of Young People in the church has a relation- 
86 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 





ship to the presbytery, and some groups also have rela- 
tionships to the presbyterial society. The connection with 
presbytery is through the pastor and the other member of the 
session who represents the church at the meetings of the 
presbytery. Presbytery’s Committee on Christian Education 
has direct connection with the Board of Christian Education, 
which is responsible for Young People’s Work as a part of 
its program of Christian education in the home, the church, 
and the community. The Committees on National Missions 
and Foreign Missions are directly connected with the Mission 
Boards, which are responsible for enlisting the interest and 
service of Young People in the causes they represent. The 
Board of Christian Education has cooperated with the Board 
of National Missions and the Board of Foreign Missions in 
developing and promoting the Presbyterian Program for 
Young People. In the presbytery the Committee on Chris- 
tian Education should work cooperatively with the Commit- 
tees on National Missions and Foreign Missions in passing 
on to the pastor recommendations regarding this Program. 
The pastor is, therefore, responsible for talking with young 
people’s groups about their part in the work of the pres- 
bytery. All organizations for young people in the church 
have this relationship. 

The Young People’s society and the Westminster Guild 
for a long time have received communications in regard to 
their missionary responsibility from the Young People’s 
secretaries of the woman’s presbyterial society. These 
officers continue to have responsibility for the missionary 
work of these societies. It is now urged, however, that 
there be the closest possible codperation between them and 
representatives of the Committees of presbytery on Christian 
Education, National Missions, and Foreign Missions. It is 
most important that both the presbytery and the presbyterial 
society see the whole program as a single task and unite to 
give such help as the Young People themselves may desire. 

To the Boards of the Church. The committees and 
officers of the presbytery and the presbyterial society receive 
from the headquarters of the three Boards plans which have 


87 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


been worked out for the young people of the Church. After 
studying these plans carefully they adapt them to meet local 
conditions and promote them with all the enthusiasm which 
comes from a close touch with individual groups. The 
Boards project the general plans for the young people of 
the Presbyterian Church because they are in a position to 
speak nationally for all the young people and to help them 
to think together about problems that have been suggested by 
the young people in one or another section of the country. 
The Boards are likewise closest to the needs on the field, and 
can, therefore, suggest what will best stimulate the effort and 
support of young people in their service activities. 


YOUNG PEOPLE’S LEAGUE 

In recent years a new plan of relationship for young 
people within the bounds of a presbytery has been developing 
simple forms of organization for the young people them- 
selves. These organizations have been given various names : 
Association, Council, Central Committee. Sometimes they 
have embraced all the young people in all the Presbyterian 
churches within a given presbytery; sometimes they have 
been delegated bodies with representatives chosen from each 
church. 

In any case, through these organizations all the young 
people regularly come together in rallies with some definite 
subject for consideration. Young people’s work is encour- 
aged in the churches by visitation, by exchange of ideas, and 
by the use of helpful material for all the societies. Interest 
in missions and in other phases of a complete Young People’s 
Program is promoted, and the churches are encouraged to 
send delegations to summer conferences. 

So valuable have these organizations become, and so 
much do they promise for the future, that this Program con- 
templates such an organization for the young people of each 
presbytery under the name, “Young People’s League of the 
Presbyteryeobies cs at 

The League is officered by young people who initiate plans 
for the promotion of their own program, build their own 


88 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE PRESBYTERIAN: CHURCH 


institutes, and through service develop the power of leader- 
ship and responsibility. Two advisers each from the presby- 
tery and the woman’s presbyterial society work with the 
young people. A leaflet giving a suggested constitution may 
be secured from any of the Boards listed on page 4, at a small 
cost. 

These Leagues do not conflict with the work of Christian 
Endeavor unions or Young People’s councils of the Sunday- 
school pupils. They provide opportunity for family fellow- 
ship among Presbyterian young people and draw their mem- 
bership from the young people in the church without regard 
to the organizations with which they are affiliated. They 
include not only Christian Endeavorers and Sunday-school 
members, but any young person in the church. 


FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES 


It has been shown that no program for an organization of 
young people is complete which does not provide for the 
members definite opportunities for participation in service 
through the giving of money. Since young people are a 
part of the Church, a large share of their gifts should go to 
the missionary and educational work being carried on through 
the three Boards. In order that the young people of an 
individual church may have a definite share in this enterprise, 
certain work under these Boards has been committed to the 
young people of the Church for support by their interest, 
prayer, and gifts. 

In offering these objects for support, great care has been 
taken to choose work that has a particular appeal to Young 
People. It is expected that all Young People in the Sunday 
school, the Young People’s society, the Westminster Guild, 
and the Young Men’s Fellowship will support these objects. 
Where in an individual church the organizations of Young 
People are operating through the Cabinet, it would be well 
to have the whole question of financial responsibilities dis- 
cussed. The Cabinet may adopt a benevolent budget for all 
the Young People’s organizations of the church and recom- 
mend to each organization the share which it should con- 


89 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 





tribute. Recognition should be made of the fact that some 
of the organizations will receive from the woman’s presby- 
terial society apportionments which should be met. If, how- 
ever, these apportionments amount to more than seventy-six 
per cent of the total benevolent budget which it is possible to 
raise, they should not be paid in full at the expense of other 
objects. Individual groups may designate their gifts to the 
entire list of objects offered by each Board or they may 
choose one or more of the objects on the list of each Board, 
with the understanding that if the needs of a particular 
object have been fully met by the time the gift is received, it 
will be used for the other objects on the same list. A leaflet 
giving the objects for all three Boards may be secured from 
any one of them. (See page 4.) 


METHODS FOR REMITTING CONTRIBUTIONS 


For a number of years Young People’s societies and West- 
minster Guilds have received from the woman’s presby- 
terial society apportionments to guide them in their gifts 
for missionary work under the Board of National Missions 
and the Board of Foreign Missions. This method of giving 
is still being followed for these organizations, and missionary 
gifts should be sent to the treasurer of the presbyterial 
society, if possible, in equal quarterly payments, before the 
tenth of June, September, December, and March. Gifts 
from Sunday schools, and Young Men’s Fellowships should 
be sent, if possible, in equal quarterly payments, directly to 
the treasurers of these Boards at the addresses given on 
page 4. 

Sunday schools, Christian Endeavor societies, Westminster 
Guilds, and Young Men’s Fellowships—in fact any groups 
of Young People in an individual church—should send their 
gifts to the Board of Christian Education directly to the 
treasurer of that Board at the address found on page 4. 
In order to avoid the necessity of borrowing funds at interest 
to carry the work during the opening months of the fiscal 
year, equal quarterly payments remitted on the first of June, 
September, December, and March are desirable. 


90 


YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 


DIVISION OF GIFTS 


Venn people have frequently asked what ought to be the 
basis upon which they should divide their benevolence money. 
It is recognized by everyone that groups of young people 
have local responsibilities which must be carried. At the 
same time, they should also face responsibility for the mis- 
sionary and educational work which has been set aside for 
their support by the Board of National Missions, the Board 
of Foreign Missions, and the Board of Christian Education. 
The following percentages on the basis of 100 per cent for 
benevolences are suggested by the three Boards as a possible 
guide for the gifts from organizations of young people: 


For the Board of National Missions .......... 38 per cent 
For the Board of Foreign Missions ........... 38 per cent 
For the Board of Christian Education ........ 14 per cent 
POCA RO AUISCSIENN, 0. se ae ean Lae Ric onry yee IL, 10 per cent 

100 per cent 


These percentages do not include the offerings on Special 
Days or gifts from Sunday schools which contribute as a 
unit. Organizations which receive apportionments from the 
Presbyterial Society should recognize, in building their 
budget, that such apportionments are the missionary per- 
centages suggested above. 


ENROLLMENT OF ORGANIZATIONS 


In order to maintain the relationships which were outlined 
earlier in this chapter it is necessary that all new organiza- 
tions make their existence known by enrolling at Board head- 
quarters. All organizations, regardless of name or nature of 
activity, are expected to enroll with the Board of Christian 
Education, and with the Board of National Missions and 
the Board of Foreign Missions. 

Each organization will thus be in constant touch with 
those agencies of the Church responsible for work among 
young people. Presidents of all organizations will receive 
information regarding methods of work, new materials in the 


91 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


Young People’s Program, and desirable activities. It is 
important that any changes in officers be reported immedi- 
ately to the Board of Christian Education and to the Young 
People’s secretary of the Presbyterial Society. 


THE VALUE OF THESE RELATIONSHIPS 


Of what value to young people are these wider contacts? 
In what light ought the young people to think of them? 
Largely in terms of privilege, for these relations offer young 
people at least three valuable opportunities : 

The opportunity for wider fellowship and sharing of 

experiences. 

The opportunity for practical help and encouragement in 
their work and for training and development. 

The opportunity to join with many others in accomplishing 
tasks that no one group could do alone, particularly in 
carrying a splendid share in the whole task of the 
Church at home and abroad. 


92 


&) 


y ) 


Sieh uethieike MANE 


THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S DEPARTMENT OF THE 
SUNDAY SCHOOL 


It is not fair to hold young people down to the levels of 
children. Young people are no longer boys and girls; neither 
are they mature men and women. Youth, with its enthusi- 
asm, energy, and optimism is dominated by characteristics, 
interests, and life situations peculiar to its years. The needs 
of these young people cannot be met in Sunday school by 
worship planned for adults or by a series of lessons chosen 
for all ages. Programs of service and recreation intended 
for other age groups will not suffice here. In other words 
the Sunday school, above all other agencies of the church, 
should recognize young people as young people, and should 
afford them a place of their own where activities adapted to 
meet their particular needs may be carried on. The young 
people as a group should be encouraged to study Christian 
principles and determine Christian standards together. They 
have reached the point where no one else can do these things 
for them. In other spheres of life they are assuming large 
responsibilities ; they must take the responsibility here also. 
The young people, with their leaders, should work out a plan 
suited to their own local situation, whereby the whole 
Sunday-school work of the young people can be made to meet 
their needs and the life situations in which they find them- 
selves. 


WHY ORGANIZE? 


It has been found that the above ideals for young people 
in the Sunday school can be worked out best through a 
Young People’s Department. Here it will be possible for 
worship services to be conducted which will really establish 
a contact between the young people and God and which will 
stimulate the Christlike fellowship among themselves so 


93 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


necessary in the right development of a growing life. Here, 
too, young people may seek out the great truths and facts of 
Christianity which they need if in later years they are to 
attain a mature Christian experience. The organization of a 
Young People’s Department will first of all be a frank admis- 
sion on the part of the church that young people have a vital 
place in Christian activity and that the church is trying to 
help them to occupy that place. Naturally the leaders of 
such a department will need to have a sympathetic under- 
standing of young people. The scheme of organization, the 
program, and the method of carrying out the program must 
all tend to develop the initiative of the young people them- 
selves. The size of the church and the number of young 
people available are of secondary importance. It is often 
practical to have an organized Young People’s Department, 
although there may be no separate assembly room for them 
and even though no individual classrooms are available. One 
of the best ways to increase the number receiving the benefits 
of Christian teaching and training is to make sure that the 
Sunday school is divided into groups such that the interests, 
needs, and activities of all in any one of the groups are 
approximately on the same level. 


PROGRAM 


With only one hour each week available, the work of the 
Sunday school must be as forceful and effective as possible, 
for the study offered here is basic to the whole Program. The 
work of the young people in the Sunday school must be made 
strong and effective if this Program is to accomplish its 
purpose. The Sunday-school period should bring young 
people close to God. in prayer and praise, prepare them 
through study for efficient service in his name, and help them 
to find a Christian solution for their life problems. 

Worship. A~- certain portion of the Sunday-school 
period is invariably given to hymns, prayer, Bible- reading, 
and other means of worship. 

It is one of the purposes of the Program to make this 
brief period just as interesting and helpful for spiritual de- 


94 


YOUNG PEOPLE’S DEPARTMENT OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 


velopment as possible. By studying the aims and principles 
of worship as presented in Chapter II, and by building pro- 
grams that use these aims and principles, the Sunday-school 
worship period will be greatly enriched and made much 
more helpful. 

Two common situations exist in regard to worship in the 
Sunday school. In many instances the Young People have to 
worship with other groups, usually the Intermediate, the 
Senior, and the Adult. Where that is the case, it is obvious 
that worship must be pianned with all these groups in mind. 
Even in such a school, a proportionate number of worship 
programs—in this instance at least one in four—should be 
prepared and carried out by the Young People’s Department, 
or by those in the Young People’s classes where no Young 
People’s Department is organized. The other situation is 
when the Young People are fortunate enough to have a room 
in which they may meet apart from all others for their wor- 
ship service. In such situations, the worship program of each 
Sunday may be planned especially to meet the needs of young 
people. These programs may be developed in the light of the 
theme of the Bible lessons for the quarter and the special 
lesson for the day, and thus made a vital part of the Young 
People’s Program. The young people should have the major 
responsibility for planning and carrying out these services, 
in consultation with their adult advisers. 

To give assistance to those responsible for these worship 
services, at least one sample program is included in the 
Year Book. Further aid is given in the opening pages of 
each Student’s Quarterly of the Young People’s Depart- 
mental Graded Lessons. The initiative of young people will 
be developed in adapting the suggested programs to local 
needs and in building additional programs. While there is 
value in keeping some features of a worship program the 
same from Sunday to Sunday during a month or even a 
quarter other features should change each week, making it 
necessary to build each program carefully. The messages, 
stories, talks, or poems which are a part of the worship serv- 
ices are very important features and often give a splendid 


95 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


opportunity to relate the theme of the Bible lesson to the 
worship period. Much care should be given to this item of 
the program. The general principles suggested at the end of 
the chapter on “Worship” should be applied. This period 
should be recognized as one sacred to the worship of God, 
in which young people learn his will and hear his voice and 
enter into fellowship with him. 

Instruction. Every effort has been made in the Presby- 
terian Program for Young People to secure material for the 
Sunday school which is vitally interesting to Young People 
and suited to their lives. The Bible must be made a living 
book to them, which contains not merely the history of what 
happened in a far-off time but also the answers to their 
questions in the complex world of to-day. With this point 
of view, lessons have been carefully outlined and written 
especially for Young People. They appear in pamphlet form 
like other quarterlies and are called Westminster Depart- 
mental Graded Lessons for Young People. One quarterly is 
issued for the students, another for the teacher. The Bible 
outline in the Appendix of this Manual indicates the material 
that is to be included in the entire series of lessons covering 
six years. As these lessons are an important part of the 
complete Young People’s Program, it is recommended that 
they be examined carefully as to their adaptability to local 
needs. Each course, after it has appeared in periodical form, 
is republished in permanent form and thus made available as 
an elective. By this means a whole series of Bible-study 
courses for Young People is being built up. 

While these lessons have been carefully planned and 
especially written for Young People, it is not claimed that they 
will meet the needs of every group under all conditions. 
Realizing this, a number of special courses called Elective 
Courses for Young People are available. These cover Young 
People’s lesson courses published during the last few years 
by the Presbyterian Board of Christian Education. Addi- 
tional courses are available from other sources. The impor- 
tant thing is that all the Young People of the church shall, 
either by class or department, make a careful study of lesson 


96 


YOUNG PEOPLE’S DEPARTMENT OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 


materials and choose their Bible-study courses wisely with a 
long look ahead. Except in rare cases the lessons chosen 
should be those especially written for young people of this 
age. 

If any Sunday school has been content merely to have a 
group of young people attending more or less regularly, but 
not inspired to any real work, it should give serious thought 
to the causes for such a condition. Since the time available 
is so short, the most systematic effort should be made to use 
it wisely. The best methods of teaching should be studied. 
The discussion method, which allows young people to think 
through their problems together, is heartily recommended. 

Leadership Training Courses. In many churches a 
Leadership Training Department is maintained. In other 
cases there is just one Leadership class which holds its ses- 
sions during the regular Sunday-school lesson period. The 
young people who seem to have undeveloped ability as leaders 
should be urged to join the Leadership Training Department 
or class. The needs for trained leadership are so great that 
if there is no class or department available, such a class 
should be organized within the Young People’s Department 
unless time outside the regular Sunday-school period is used 
and adequately meets the need. The course recommended 
for use is the Standard Leadership Training course. This 
contains several general units on Bible, methods, and Sun- 
day-school administration, with a number of specialized units 
for those young people who want to serve in a particular 
part of the church. In Appendix B, on pages 147-150, there 
is a brief outline of the Leadership Training courses, and 
also the outline of a plan that has been adopted to endeavor 
to build up a large number of leaders in each age-group field 
capable of handling age-group programs. 

The leaders of Young People should keep in mind the 
many different opportunities for Leadership Training that 
are available. They include the following: 

1, Individual church courses in connection with church 
night or in connection with other plans for religious educa- 
tion. They are sometimes held in conjunction with prayer 


97 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


meetings, or on a night entirely apart from any other service. 

2. Presbyterian Training Schools, when several Presby- 
terian churches unite in offering Leadership Training 
courses. Sometimes these classes meet every evening for a 
week, sometimes one evening a week for several consecutive 
weeks. 

3. Interdenominational Standard Training Schools. The 
plan for these is often like that outlined in the two above, 
but several different denominations participate. 

4. Training courses under the auspices of county Councils 
of Religious Education. ‘These meet usually one night a 
week for ten or twelve weeks and are held frequently in city 
centers. 

5. Summer conferences, denominational and interdenomi- 
national. Many of these offer Leadership Training courses. 
These different opportunities for securing Leadership Train- 
ing courses ought not to be a substitute for definite plans 
within the local church, but ought to be used to supplement 
the plans of the local church. 

Service and Recreation. The Presbyterian Program for 
Young People in suggesting a unified program for each year, 
recommends that in churches using the-correlated plan of 
organization the major portions of both “service” and “recre- 
ation’”’ be carried by the Young People’s Society, the Westmin- 
ster Guild, and the Young Men’s Fellowship. If, however, 
these organizations do not exist in the individual church, it 
is necessary to make a careful survey to discover whether 
new organizations need to be launched or the program of an 
existing organization expanded, or a single new organiza- 
tion formed for all Young People in the church. If, for 
instance, the forming of new organizations seems quite un- 
wise, the Young People’s Department of the Sunday school 
should plan and carry out through week-day activities a full 
program of both service and recreation. Reference should 
be made, in this case, not only to the general program for 
the year as presented in the Year Book, but also to chap- 
ters on these other organizations in both Year Book and 
Manual. 


98 


YOUNG! FORUTES DEPARTMENT OF ‘SUNDAY SCHOOL 


ORGANIZATION 

Experience has taught that a program, no matter how com- 
plete, is practically useless without an organization through 
which it may be made effective. Organization is simply the 
assignment of definite responsibilities to definite individuals. 
Frequently a group of responsible individuals must be 
brought together before a program can be built, but the kind 
and amount of organization must be determined by the 
character of the work to be done. 

The organizing of the Young People’s Department in the 
Sunday school depends upon the organization which has been 
adopted for the Young People’s Section of the church. In 
Chapter VI the two plans for church organization of young 
people are presented—the correlated plan and the unified 
plan. The organization of the Young People’s Department 
of the Sunday school will be different under each of the two 
plans, and is therefore discussed separately. 

Organizing Under the Correlated Plan. The correlated 
plan is one which can be most generally used. Therefore the 
following organization will be the most practical and helpful 
in the greater number of Sunday schools. Reference to 
Chart I of Chapter VI will show how the Young People in 
the Sunday school have their own organization, which is 
represented by its student president in the Cabinet of the 
Young People’s Section of the church. 

This organization of the Young People in Sunday schools 
should be simple enough to have no extra machinery but 
complete enough to carry a real program. ‘There should be 
officers: a president, a secretary, and a treasurer, elected by 
the students and approved by the superintendent or adult 
adviser of the Department. Committees on Worship, In- 
struction, Service, and Recreation should assume responsi- 
bility for their respective parts of the program in the Sunday 
school. Other committees may be appointed as needed. 

The officers and committee chairmen, with the teachers, 
superintendent of the Department, and pastor or director of 
religious education should make up the Executive Commit- 
tee of the Young People’s Department. This committee 


99 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


would determine whether the president or some other person 
should represent the Department on the Cabinet of the 
Young People’s Section of the church. If a larger Executive 
Committee is desired, one representative chosen by each class 
may be added. If the classes are organized, they will prob- 
ably wish their presidents to represent them, or the classes 
may elect special representatives. 

The organization of the Young People’s Department under 
this plan is shown in the chart on page 101. 

Functions of Committees. The Executive Committee 
should assume full responsibility for the work suggested by 
the Cabinet for the Young People in the Sunday school. Busy 
officers who have an entire school to care for can hardly be 
expected to consider carefully the particular needs of any one 
age group. The Executive Committee should develop a 
program which will adequately meet the needs of the Depart- 
ment, and should study worship, instruction, and other parts 
of the Program in their relationship to each other. Through 
its representative on the Cabinet of the Young People’s Sec- 
tion of the church the committee is responsible for securing 
correlation between the Department and the other organiza- 
tions for Young People in the church. 

The Worship Committee is responsible for the devotional 
period in the Department. If the Department meets sepa- 
rately from the rest of the school, the committee will have an 
opportunity to plan all the worship periods for the group. 
If, however, the Department is meeting in an assembly with 
other age groups the committee will find it necessary to 
cooperate with the officers of the other departments of the 
Sunday school and secure in the assembly exercises a fair 
proportion of worship suited to the needs of Young People. 
Provision should be made for them to receive training in the 
conduct of worship services. 

The Instruction Committee is responsible for the curricu- 
lum in the Department. : It should study the courses avail- 
able and secure those best suited to the group. The Young 
People’s Quarterly of the Westminster Departmental Graded 
series contains the Bible study lessons written for the 


100 


YOUNG PEOPLE’S DEPARTMENT OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 





ORGANIZATION OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S DEPART- 
MENT OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 


REPRESENTATIVE ON THE CABINET OF THE 
) YOUNG PEOPLE’S DEPARTMENT 
OF THE CHURCH 


President of the Young People’s 
Department of the Sunday School. 


ee ee 


EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S 
DEPARTMENT OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 


President. 

Superintendent or Adult Adviser. 

Pastor or Director of Religious Education. 
Secretary. 

Treasurer. 

Teachers. 

Chairmen of Regular Committees. 

Class Representatives. 


ees Ee 


3 Classes of the Department, Each 
with a Teacher and a Student 
President or Representative. 





101 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


Program. The committee should also arrange for the Leader- 
ship Training courses or make plans for cooperating in 
Leadership Training courses established in the Sunday school. 
Other instruction features, such as special talks, should be 
included in the program from time to time. 

The Service Committee and the Recreation Committee 
plan those parts of the program assigned to the Department 
by the Cabinet. It may be that the Cabinet as recommended 
will assign the greater part of the activities in the service and 
recreational field to the Young People’s society, the West- 
minster Guild, and the Young Men’s Fellowship. Where 
these organizations cannot be maintained, the Young People’s 
Department in the Sunday school should carry the service 
and recreational phases of the Program just as far as pos- 
sible. 

Organizing Under the Unified Plan. It will be remem- 
bered that in the churches which are organized under the 
unified plan all work with Young People is under one general 
organization, known as the Cabinet of the Young People’s 
Section of the church. (See Chapter VI.) This Cabinet has 
committees which are in charge of all worship, instruction, 
service, and recreation for the Young People. It will be 
seen by reference to Chapter VI, and especially to the chart 
on page 79, that when the Young People meet on Sunday 
for Bible study and worship, they meet as the Young People’s 
Section of the church. Each element of the program and 
each activity is planned by the appropriate committee of the 
Young People’s Section. This precludes having a Young 
People’s Department in the Sunday school as a separate 
organization and makes the hour on Sunday a part of the full 
program planned by the one organization of Young People. 
The carrying out of the Sunday-school period will be almost 
the same in this plan as in the case where the Young People’s 
Department of the Sunday school is organized as a unit 
apart from its relationship to other activities of Young 
People. The main difference will be seen in the relationship 
of the work of the Sunday school to other activities of the 
young people in the same age group. 


102 


YOUNG PEOPLE’S DEPARTMENT OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 


ORGANIZATION IN THE SMALL CHURCH 


There is a common tendency on the part of those in small 
churches to conclude that such plans for organization and 
activity are practical only in the large church. The fact is 
that many of the most important phases of the plan can be 
worked out more effectively in the small church than in the 
large church. 

This is especially the case in the organization of the Young 
People’s Department of the Sunday school. Some churches 
may have only one or two classes of young people between 
the ages of eighteen and twenty-three. It might seem that 
such a situation offers little opportunity for organization. 
On the contrary, it presents a unique opportunity for unifi- 
cation and cooperation. There is, to begin with, that which 
the large church must struggle to obtain, namely, a group 
well acquainted and already constituting, except in organiza- 
tion, a Young People’s Department. 

If there were only one class of Young People, the Execu- 
tive Committee of that class would be responsible for the 
whole program of Young People in the Sunday school. The 
president of the class would represent this group on 
the Young People’s Cabinet of the church. The Executive 
Committee should plan the program of worship, instruction, 
service, and recreation so as to help all the members to live 
as Christians in the Master’s Kingdom. 

Those interested in the Young People’s work of the smaller 
church should not satisfy themselves with low ideals. The 
best work is often possible in the smaller school. The essen- 
tial elements of organization, the Program discussed in pre- 
ceding paragraphs, and the principles which summarize the 
chapter all apply to the small school as fully as to the large. 


103 


CHAPTER IX 
THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S SOCIETY 


A Young People’s society is already a familiar thing to a 
large number of churches. It may be organized as a Chris- 
tian Endeavor society, or under some other name, but the 
opportunity it gives to “reach, hold, instruct, train, and in- 
spire young people for Christian living and Christian service” 
gives it a unique position. The purpose just quoted, which is 
frequently used by such organizations, gives the reason for 
their existence. 

Those churches which already have Young People’s 
societies, and those which are looking forward to organizing 
them, are interested in the part these societies have in the 
Building With Christ Program. Wherever the correlated 
plan is used, specific parts of the Presbyterian Program for 
Young People are assigned by the Cabinet to the Young 
People’s society, and its officers and committee chairmen are 
responsible for developing them and carrying them out. 
Wherever the Young People’s Section of the church uses 
the unified plan of organization, the part of the Program 
here assigned to the Young People’s society is carried out 
by the officers and committees of the Section. 


PROGRAM 

The Cabinet of the Young People’s Section of the church 
is the group which should consider the Building With Christ 
Program and make arrangements for having it carried out 
by the different organizations in the church. Nevertheless 
it may prove helpful to indicate here the part of the Program 
which the Cabinet would naturally assign to the Young Peo- 
ple’s society. 

Worship. Although the major part of the worship 
program will be carried by the church services and the 
worship period in the Sunday school, both of which should 
be faithfully attended by the young people, the Young Peo- 


104 


») 


ie OWNG ERE OPI Sy SO GTi iy 


ple’s society has a distinctive contribution to make in help- 
ing “to establish and develop that filial relationship with 
God and Christlike fellowship with men through which the 
worshiper shares God’s Spirit and purposes and receives 
strength for Christian living.” In the intimacy of this group 
it is sometimes possible more readily to feel God’s presence 
and to become conscious of the way in which, through their 
common aspirations, all who are worshiping are lifted nearer 
to him. In such a group young people find it easier to learn 
how to conduct public worship, to share their own thanks- 
giving and petitions with others, or really to bring together 
the desires and longings of those who are worshiping by 
voicing prayer in behalf of them all. 

There should be a definite devotional period in the Young 
People’s meetings. This should be planned with all the 
principles presented in Chapter II of this Manual clearly in 
mind. Worship is important and the opportunity of the 
Young People’s society to make a distinct contribution to 
the spiritual lives of its members should not be neglected. 
The Committee on Worship, if a new alignment of com- 
mittees is adopted in connection with the Program, or the 
Prayer Meeting Committee, working with the leader of each 
meeting, should see that this part of the program receives 
careful consideration. It might be possible for this com- 
mittee to arrange each month a meeting of all the leaders 
who are to be in charge. Only by unremitting effort and con- 
stant planning and supervision can the Young People’s 
society do its part in helping young people to achieve the 
goal set for them in the aim of worship. 

The Young People’s society should also put emphasis upon 
the private devotions of its members. By discussing practical 
ways of finding adequate time, by calling attention to helpful 
books, or by binding young people together in a common 
pledge to observe a quiet hour, it is possible to give real 
help to those who are seeking to enrich their spiritual lives 
by personal devotions. 

Instruction. The part of the instruction program 
specifically assigned to the Young People’s society consists 


105 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


largely of topics related to the Sunday-school lessons of the 
quarter. A full discussion of these topics appears in Chapter 
III, especially in the section entitled ““The Young People’s 
Society Hour.” Reference should also be made to the Year 
Book for the topics of discussion to be used each year and 
for specific suggestions concerning the other elements of in- 
struction. If the Young People’s society is to do its share 
in carrying out the Presbyterian Program for Young Peo- 
ple, it must undertake and complete a well-planned and con- 
sistent program of instruction. 

The Prayer Meeting Committee is usually in charge of 
this phase of the work, or there may be a Committee on 
Instruction. This committee should study the topics for 
discussion in the meetings. Those prepared especially for 
use with this Program are published in the Young People’s 
Quarterly of the Westminster Departmental Graded series 
of Sunday-school lessons as well as in the Year Book. These 
are recommended for adoption. If the committee feels that 
any topics in the series will not awaken the interest of the 
young people or aid them in their lives, it is charged with 
the responsibility of providing substitute topics. In order 
to carry out its work effectively the committee, as well as 
the other officers of the society, should become familiar 
with the Young People’s Society Program as presented in 
the Year Book. It should make arrangements for all special 
addresses and discussions called for by the Program. 

Special attention should be paid to training for leadership. 
In the past the policy has frequently been training by doing. 
Young people have been elected to office or assigned to com- 
mittees in the hope that as they try to do the work expected 
of them they will learn how to do it. To-day we expect 
young people to study something about the work of the 
society before assuming responsibility for any part of it. 
Opportunities for such study are afforded in classes con- 
ducted in the society, in leadership courses provided by the 
church, in community institutes and conferences, and in 
Presbyterian summer conferences. It should be kept in 
mind that this training is for leadership in the society and 


106 


5) 


ree VOUNG PROP Tle Sood LAT 


~ —« 


also in the church, for the acceptance of responsibility as a 
church officer or leader should be the natural result of the 
years of service and experience in the Young People’s 
society. 

Service. The exact service activities assigned to the 
Young People’s society in the individual church will depend 
upon the results of the survey to be carried out by the co- 
operation of all organizations through the Cabinet of the 
Young People’s Section. If no survey is made, the Cabinet 
should consider the types of service suggested in Chapter 
IV of this Manual, and the Program outlined in the Year 
Book, and then make its assignments. It would probably 
recommend to the Young People’s society specific parts of 
the service program for the year, including work in the home, 
the church, the community, the nation, and the world. The 
scope of such service would include young people not mem- 
bers of the society, those in the community in particular 
need of fellowship and friendship, and the people at home 
and abroad who need the help of the Church. 

The service activities which the society undertakes should 
be assigned to the proper committees. If there is one com- 
mittee on Service, it would need to divide its work, perhaps 
giving to each member particular responsibility for one 
phase, and having him form a subcommittee to help him. 
The membership of these subcommittees should be reviewed 
by the Executive Committee so that they may see that all 
have an opportunity to share in the work. In other cases 
these activities would be distributed among various com- 
mittees, such as the Lookout, Evangelistic, Missionary, 


Flower, and Visiting Committees. Care should always be 


taken that all phases of the work are definitely assigned. 
Many valuable service activities will grow out of the local 
situation. The young people, inspired by their study and 
worship, will discover about them opportunities for helping 
others which they had never seen before. There may be 
foreign-speaking people in the community, or a section which 
needs a mission school; in fact, the possibilities are unlimited. 
But these possibilities will remain untouched unless the 


107 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


young people will search eagerly to find ways in which they 
may serve, and consecrate themselves to the task of securing 
the necessary training to do it effectively. 

All plans for service should be reported to the Cabinet of 
the Young People’s Section of the church so as to avoid 
overlapping with other organizations. There is so much 
which needs to be done that duplication of effort should be 
avoided. ‘There are tasks for all, and by careful correlation 
it is possible to make every piece of work count in the whole 
program of service of the young people. 

Recreation Those in charge of recreation in the 
society should study carefully Chapter V of this Manual. It 
is not expected that the society will do all of this work, for 
there might be times when the Young People’s Department 
or an organized class in the Sunday school would want to 
have its own events, or the Westminster Guild and the Young 
Men’s Fellowship would take charge of the recreation for 
young men and young women separately. Definite responsi- 
bility should be clearly assigned by the Cabinet to the various 
organizations. 

It may well be that the Cabinet would give major responsi- 
bility for the recreation program for young men and young 
women together to the Young People’s society. In that case 
the society should realize that its social events should be 
planned not only for those who are members but for all 
young people from eighteen through twenty-three years of 
age in the church. By planning attractive events and using 
personal invitations it should be possible to reach most of 
the young people. Specific suggestions will be found in the 
Year Book. Books helpful in planning this part of the 
program are listed in the Bibliography. 

Where there is no Westminster Guild or Young Men’s 
Fellowship, the Young People’s society should plan sepa- 
rate events for the young men and young women, such 
as athletic programs and ‘Mother and Daughter” or “Father 
and Son” banquets. It might also be possible at times for 
the Young People’s society to give an entertainment of some 
kind for all the members of the church. 


108 


WHhayYOUNG PEOPLES SOCIETY 


ORGANIZATION 


A safe rule to follow regarding the organization of a 
Young People’s society or any other group in the church 1s, 
‘Keep the organization as simple as possible.” This means 
avoiding any elaborate scheme for officers and committees, 
avoiding a complex constitution and by-laws, and being pro- 
gressive enough to change the organization to meet the exist- 
ing needs of the program. Emphasis should be put on the 
program and work of the society rather than upon organiza- 
tion. In fact, the program and work should determine or- 
ganization. 

A society should have the usual officers such as president, 
vice president, recording secretary, and treasurer. In some 
instances it may be wise to add a corresponding secretary. 
Sometimes a society will elect an adult adviser who will act 
toward the society very much as a coach acts toward an ath- 
letic team. 

A committee should be appointed only when it is needed 
to carry on some part of the work of the society, not merely 
because another society has such a committee. It is better for 
each committee so to plan its work that definite assignments 
of responsibility can be given to each member of the society 
to be carried out under the supervision of the appropriate 
committee. This policy might be worded, “Each committee 
at work, and each member given something to do.” The 
kinds of work which need to be carried on in all societies 
and the usual names of the committees to which this work 
may be assigned are: 


Spiritual Activities—Prayer Meeting or Devotional Committee. 

Membership Activities—Membership or Lookout Committee. 

Service Activities—Distributed Among the Missionary, Flower, 
Visiting, or Other Appropriate Committees. 

Recreational Activities—Social Committee. 

Missionary Activities—Missionary Committee. 

Financial Matters—Finance Committee. 


Some societies may wish to reorganize their system of 
committee work more nearly to parallel the Program, appoint- 
ing Committees on Worship, Instruction, Service, and Recre- 


109 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


ation. Such matters as finance and membership may require 
special committees other than these. The adoption of sucha 
plan would in no way affect the identity of the society, but 
would merely mean a readjustment of committees by amend- 
ing the constitution and by-laws. 

Rotation of officers is usually a wise policy. The rule that 
no person should succeed himself more than once makes it 
possible for many young people to get experience in office 
and to learn how to render efficient service. Elections are 
usually held annually or semiannually. When new officers in 
a society are elected, the names and addresses of the president 
and corresponding secretary should be sent promptly to 
Young People’s Work of the Board of Christian Educa- 
tion. Through this Department the information will be 
passed to the Young People’s Departments of the Mission 
Boards. ‘The names and addresses of the president, treas- 
urer, and chairman of the Missionary Committee should be 
sent to the presbyterial secretary for Young People. 


MEMBERSHIP 


Membership in the Young People’s society should be open 
to all Young People, but experience has proved that it is 
usually wise to have certain requirements. When the society 
is affiliated with the Christian Endeavor movement this re- 
quirement is in the form of a membership pledge. The exact 
form of the pledge is left to the local group although there 
are several forms which have become standard. Other socie- 
ties, not Christian Endeavor, usually have membership 
pledges or statements of purpose which the young people 
sign when joining the organization. It is reasonable to 
expect a young person who becomes a member to promise 
loyalty to the society, to the church of which it is a part, and 
to Jesus Christ. 

Under the correlated plan of organization, Young People 
indicate whether they wish to be members of the society, but 
the effort should be to enlist them all. When the Young 
People’s Section of the church uses the unified plan of or- 
ganization, all Young People in the church are considered 


110 


ete eMOUN GEE OP NES SOCLE LN 
members of the one organization, which meets with the Sun- 
day school for Bible study, at another hour for the part 
of its program similar to that of the Young People’s society, 
and during the week for its other activities. 

In order to accomplish the best results, the membership 
in a Young People’s society should be limited strictly to 
Young People. By adopting the same age limits which are 
recommended for the Sunday school—eighteen through 
twenty-three years of age—it becomes possible to correlate 
the work of the school and the society in such a way that 
they are supplemental. In studying the program and ac- 
tivities of the organization, the wisdom of holding to these 
age limits will be seen. 


RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER YOUNG PEOPLE’S 
ORGANIZATIONS IN THE CHURCH 


The Young People’s society is represented on the Cabinet 
of the Young People’s Section of the church by its presi- 
dent, or, where the larger Cabinet is used, by its officers and 
committee chairmen. It is through this Cabinet that the 
whole Building With Christ Program is studied, and ar- 
rangements made for carrying it out effectively in the church 
through the cooperation of all the organizations of young 
people. The Young People’s society should loyally carry its 
share of the Program. 


INTERDENOMINATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS 

The use of the topics prepared for the Presbyterian Pro- 
gram for Young People instead of the usual topics sug- 
gested by the United Society of Christian Endeavor does not 
prevent a society from sharing the Christian Endeavor fel- 
lowship. There are already societies which prepare their 
own topics, and the use of the proposed plan in no way 
hampers societies which wish to affiliate with this movement. 

Societies which continue to use the Christian Endeavor 
topics, should not fail to participate in the rest of the Pro- 
eram. They can still cooperate through the Cabinet in 
making and carrying out other parts of the instruction pro- 
gram, and plans for worship, service, and recreation. 


111 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


Many Presbyterian Young People’s societies hold mem- 
bership in Christian Endeavor Unions. Such affiliation is 
approved, for the Presbyterian Church has always stood for 
interdenominational fellowship and cooperation. It has also 
stood, however, for denominational loyalty, and it is not ex- 
pected that a society will let a program and activities of the 
interdenominational organization supplant or-interfere with 
the program and activities of its own church. Membership 
in Christian Endeavor Unions involves financial responsibil- 
ity, but pledges to this interdenominational work should not 
be allowed to interfere with denominational obligations. 
Proper proportion should be maintained between these de- 
nominational and interdenominational gifts. In the plan 
of the church it is expected that Young People’s societies 
will give financial support to the work of their own Boards 
of Foreign and National Missions, and of Christian Edu- 
cation. 

The interdenominational work will call for time, energy, 
and enthusiasm on the part of Presbyterian young people in 
attendance on meetings and in the leadership of county and 
state organizations. Expenditures of these personal elements 
should be guarded in such a way that the work in the society 
and the individual church does not suffer. On the other 
hand, the church should be glad when it has the opportunity 
to contribute to county and state activities among young 
people by supplying the leadership in the service which these 
organizations render. 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES 


1. Consider the society an integral part of the whole 
church work for Young People. It should be related 
to the other organizations for young people through 
its representative on the Cabinet of the Young 
People’s Section of the church. 

2. Know the reason for the existence of your society. A 
definite purpose consciously arrived at will give 
efficient direction to your work. 

3. Set definite goals for the work of each year to help in 


112 


Wey OU NGIR BOP UES SOCIETY 


accomplishing your purpose. These goals should 
include worship, instruction, service, and recreation. 


4. Maintain proper relationships with other groups of 
Presbyterian Young People and with Young People 
of other denominations. The Young People’s 
League in your presbytery will help you to do the 
first and Christian Endeavor Unions provide a 
means for doing the second. 


113 


CHAPTER. 
THE WESTMINSTER GUILD 


In recent years young women have been increasingly called 
to unite in the support of great causes. Fields of service in 
education and welfare work have demanded and held young 
women of talent and ability. Of even greater challenge is 
service for Christ. Many have dedicated their lives to him in 
lonely and hard fields. There are still many opportunities 
for serving him which call for the best that young women 
can give. 

In the application of Christ’s principles to the social order, 
in calling young women to an acceptance of those principles 
for the whole of life, in establishing the Kingdom in the 
human heart, there is a peculiar work which can be done best 
by young women who are effectively organized, carefully 
instructed, and whole-heartedly consecrated to that highest 
purpose. With the idea that some parts of the Presbyterian 
Program for Young People can best be carried out by young 
men and young women in separate organizations, certain 
units of the Program have been worked out for such organi- 
zations. This arrangement presupposes that the Young 
People’s work in each church is planned on a basic three 
hour a week schedule: the Sunday-school hour, the Young 
People’s society hour, and the week-day hour—for young 
men in the Young Men’s Fellowship and for young women 
in the Westminster Guild. No church is too large and very 
few are too small for such groups of working, studying, and 
praying young men and young women, united in Christian 
consecration to a common cause. 


HISTORY 
The young women of the Presbyterian denomination 
already have a record of real accomplishment. Through 
their organization, the Westminster Guild, in cooperation 
with the woman’s missionary organization, their influence 


114 


THE WESTMINSTER GUILD 


has been of fundamental importance and their contributions 
indispensable to the great forward movement of the Church. 
Primarily interested in the missionary enterprise both at 
home and abroad, the various chapters of this organization 
found that the inevitable outgrowth of their missionary 
activity was an extensive program of service within their 
own churches and in behalf of their own communities. 

Every dictate of good Church policy was against the crea- 
tion of additional organizations among the young women to 
carry on these wider and enlarged activities. The Presby- 
terian Program for Young People, based upon principles of 
cooperation and correlation, proposed to enrich and broaden 
the programs of the organizations already in existence. The 
need of an enlarged program for the Westminster Guild 
was anticipated by its members. ‘They frankly faced the 
issue. The result of a conference in 1922, at which the 
matter was under consideration, was a plan approved by 
the representatives of the young women by which the pro- 
gram of the organization was enlarged and the purpose of the 
Guild stated to be as follows: 


“Realizing that the young women are needed, in the life 
of our Church to-day, we recommend that an organization 
be formed which shall look to the development of the 
highest type of Christian young womanhood, offering the 
opportunity for normal self-expression by development of 
the physical, mental, social, and spiritual phases of life, 
through service in the home, church, community, nation, 
and world.” 


The projected program did not lessen the objectives of the 
organization. On the contrary, the national program was 
extended to include those varied types of service which had 
entered so fully and so inevitably into the programs of the 
individual chapters. 

The realization of these plans was brought about in the 
development of the Presbyterian Program for Young People 
wherein the Westminster Guild with its increased activity 
now carries its share of the full and balanced program for 
the young women of the Presbyterian Church. 


115 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


PURPOSE 


The purpose of the Westminster Guild, both nationally 
and in the individual church, is to unite the young women of 
the Presbyterian Church in service for Christ and to develop 
a symmetrical, Christian young womanhood, trained for 
leadership and service in the home, the church, the com- 
munity, the nation, and the world. Not only will the West- 
minster Guild unite the young women of an individual church, 
but it will also unite similar groups from hundreds of 
churches in the country. It is hoped that through the 
enrolling of groups in churches, schools, and colleges in mis- 
sion lands the Westminster Guild will become world-wide. 
Thus the young womanhood of the Church will be united in 
great tasks of service. 


ORGANIZATION 


Under the Correlated Plan. Any group of young 
women in the Young People’s Section of a church which is 
using the young women’s part of the Presbyterian Program 
for Young People is qualified to become a Westminster 
Guild. Under this plan the organization need not be elabo- 
rate, but a constitution should be adopted and officers elected. 
These should include a president, a vice president, a secre- 
tary, and a treasurer. Committees should be appointed as 
they are needed to carry on the work of the Guild. A natural 
alignment for committee work would be that following the 
general scheme of the Program. Membership should be open 
to all young women of the church or congregation from 
eighteen through twenty-three years of age. Those who are 
unable to attend the meetings because of temporary change of 
residence should be able to retain their membership if they 
so desire. An effort should be made to enlist every young 
woman of the church in this organization so that she may 
share in the complete Program. 

The ideal is to have in a church one Westminster Guild 
which includes all the young women in that church. Where 
there are organized classes which wish to preserve their 
identity it is recommended that each individual class become 


116 


THE WESTMINSTER GUILD 


a Westminster Guild. This would provide an adequate pro- 
gram for them, and would enable the young women to share 
in the Guild fellowship and to carry their full share in 
the Presbyterian Program. A committee made up of rep- 
resentatives from each of these Guilds would be needed to 
correlate the work of the separate groups and plan the 
phases of the program which are to be carried as united 
activities by all the Guilds. The chairman of this committee 
would be the logical representative of the young women on 
the Young People’s Cabinet. 

Under the Unified Plan. When the Young People’s 
Section is organized under the unified plan (see Chapter VI) 
the activities of the young women would be carried out under 
the direction of the young woman vice president of the 
Section and the young women members of the Committees 
on Worship, Instruction, Service, and Recreation. No part 
of the Program should be slighted. An effort should be made 
to gain the active support of all the young women of the 
Section for this part of the Program. 


WORK 


The Westminster Guild will wish to interest all its mem- 
bers in a complete program of religious development and 
Christian living. This does not mean that the Guild itself 
must carry out the whole Program of instruction, worship, 
service, and recreation for young women. Many parts of the 
Program will be provided elsewhere, as in the Sunday school 
and the Young People’s society. The Westminster Guild 
will, however, want to be sure that these elements are actu- 
ally provided in the other organizations, and that all the 
young women are encouraged to have a part in them. If a 
considerable number of Guild members are not sharing in 
some essential phase of the Program which should be pro- 
vided elsewhere, for example, the Sunday-school Bible course, 
the Westminster Guild should try to find some way of 
supplying this lack. 

When other organizations are carrying their part of the 
Program, the Westminster Guild should cooperate by carry- 


117 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


ing the particular share allotted to it. Cooperation will be 
possible through the Young People’s Cabinet of the church, 
on which the Westminster Guild will be represented by its 
president or a delegated representative. 


MEETINGS 

The program of the Westminster Guild will be carried out 
in regular week-day meetings, special services, and study 
classes at intervals during the year. There should also be 
planned activities of service and recreation. Some of the 
service projects may extend over a long period of time; for 
example, the leadership of a younger group should be sus- 
tained throughout the year. Though such projects may be 
planned by the Westminster Guild, they will require the time 
of some of the members outside the regular meetings. 

It is recognized that there are certain phases of the week- 
day program which may be carried out with more interest 
by the young men’s and young women’s groups together. 
Where this is true, joint meetings should be planned. While 
certain phases of the study of vocations can be more effec- 
tively pursued separately, the study of missions could well 
be taken up by young men and young women together. 


PROGRAM 

Under the correlated plan the Cabinet of the Young 
People’s Section of the church assigns to the Westminster 
Guild the responsibility for definite parts of the Program. 
The suggestions which follow indicate the work which will 
usually be given to the Guild. Under the unified plan the 
full program of worship, study, and activity here outlined 
for the Westminster Guild will be carried by the young 
women in their week-day session under the direction of the 
young woman vice president of the Section and the young 
women members of the respective committees. 

Instruction. Since intelligent participation in the work 
of the Kingdom depends upon knowedge, the young women 
will wish to gain a clearer understanding of the task in which 
they are engaged. They will wish to hear reports of the 
service projects which they are undertaking in the com- 


118 


4 





THE WESTMINSTER GUILD 


munity, and of those movements of national and international 
significance in which they are interested. They will receive 
letters and publications telling about the work which they 
support at home and abroad. These should be reviewed or 
presented in some way at the meetings so that all may become 
familiar with this part of the work of the organization. 

In addition to information about work supported there 
should also be a definite program of study at least twice each 
year. Young women will feel the necessity for a wider 
knowledge of work on the mission field so that they may 
understand the significance of their particular share as it re- 
lates to the whole. Other subjects related to the Bible study 
and the themes of the program will have phases which may 
best be discussed by the young women alone, for example, 
the particular vocations open to women. Courses of study 
on these subjects will appear in syllabus or book form and 
may be obtained from the three Boards of the Church which 
cooperate in the Program. They will be divided into a con- 
venient number of lessons so that time may be allowed for 
the working out of service projects and recreational activities. 

In approaching the week-day program of study, careful 
attention should be given to the whole plan of instruction as 
presented in Chapter III. Special reference should be made 
to the section on “The Week-Day Hour.” 

Free discussion should be encouraged in the classes. The 
purpose is not so much to be taught as to seek together for 
an understanding of the truth of life. Even this discovery 
is not enough. Truth dare not be left like seed in a stony 
place where it cannot grow. When it has been found the 
next concern of honest minds is the service—to one another, 
to the church, to the community, and to the world—which 
should result from such. knowledge. “Faith apart from 
works is barren.” So are knowledge, understanding, and 
vision dead without resultant action. Young women through 
their study have the finest opportunity to transform knowl- 
edge and learning into lives of golden service. 

Service. Much of the finest service possible for young 
women will result from their own suggestions, and will arise 


119 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


from the needs and opportunities of the local situation. From 
a realization of community problems which are of special 
interest to women, there should be a broadening of the realm 
of service to include participation in a definite way in those 
national and international movements through which women 
may make a valuable contribution to human welfare. Chapter 
IV of this Manual gives an outline of the scope of service 
and shows how service projects should be discovered. The 
chapter on the Westminster Guild in each Year Book will 
give special suggestions for service in the home, church, 
community, nation, and world, all of which will be related to 
the theme for that year. 

Such suggestions are intended only to open the way for 
the special work which is assigned by the Cabinet to the 
Westminster Guild and carried out by the young women 
themselves. Special plans emanating from the Westminster 
Guild should be brought to the Cabinet before an attempt is 
made to carry them out, in order that nothing may be done 
without the cooperation of the whole Section of the church, 
so that all overlapping may be avoided. One of the most 
attractive features of the Westminster Guild is the extensive 
part which it has, along with the other organizations for 
Young People in the Church, in the support of definite proj- 
ects carried on by the Presbyterian Church. Westminster 
Guild members have a share in the support of those proj- 
ects on the mission field at home and abroad, and in the 
field of Christian education, for which young people are 
responsible. 

Worship. Although worship for young women is found 
in the church service, the Sunday school, and the Young 
People’s society, a definite place should be made for it in the 
Guild program. The Westminster Guild affords a unique 
opportunity for helping its members to secure all-round 
development. The spirit of worship and devotion to an ever- 
present Christ should permeate the practical service and the 
healthy, enjoyable recreation of all the members. 

Worship in the Westminster Guild usually takes the form 
of a devotional service related to the theme of the study of 


120 


THE WESTMINSTER GUILD 


a et 


the day. Both Bible passage and hymns should be chosen 
with care. For a full discussion of worship see Chapter II 
of this Manual. 

The worship period presents an opportunity for special 
intercession for the missionaries and for that work in the 
community, in this land, or across seas, in which young people 
are especially interested. The “Year Book of Prayer for 
Missions” should be used. Missionaries who are being 
supported and boys and girls who are receiving guidance and 
education are looking to the young women for spiritual 
strength through prayer. 

The spirit of worship, both for the members alone and in 
their group meetings, should be cultivated, and all aids should 
be utilized to make this the very heart and center of life for 
every Westminster Guild member. 

Recreation. The recreational task of the Westminster 
Guild includes all those activities, social and athletic, which 
are particularly adapted to the young women alone. A rally 
in-the fall for all the young women of the church, and social 
events in connection with the week-day study, constitute the 
normal social activities of such a group. These should be 
planned with a full knowledge of the recreational program 
of the Young People’s society or of the Sunday school, so 
that there will be neither conflict in dates nor an overloaded 
program. This codperation will be secured through the 
Young People’s Cabinet. 

The athletic program of the young women is the particular 
responsibility of the Guild. The principles outlined in 
Chapter V should be carefully studied, and plans made so 
that the young women of the church may have opportunity 
for the physical recreation, games, outings, and the general 
good times which they need. This part of the program for 
young women of the church is apt to be neglected unless the 
Westminster Guild plans attractive and healthful physical 
recreation. The Year Book and other publications of the 
organization make more detailed suggestions for such ac- 
tivities. 


121 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES 


1. Lead all the young women of the church to realize their 


definite responsibilities in the task of the Kingdom. 


2. Make the program of worship, instruction, service, and 


recreation rather than organization of primary 
importance, and urge its use in any form of organi- 
zation which best meets the local need. 


not permit the work of the Westminster Guild to 
narrow down toa small group. Though a few may 
do the work, determine that the many shall receive 
the benefits of the program. 


122 


CHA PEER EXT 
THE YOUNG MEN’S FELLOWSHIP 


No one questions the ability of young men to achieve great 
things. Their activities in athletics, in business, and in many 
other respects reveal initiative, leadership, courage, endur- 
ance. The Christian Church, full of adventure requiring 
initiative, leadership, and all the other qualities of manhood, 
has failed to enlist as it should the young men of its con- 
stituency. There are, throughout the Church, groups of 
young men who are ready and willing for a great task. The 
time has come when these able groups should be invited to 
full participation in the work of Christ’s Kingdom. 

The Presbyterian Program for Young People offers occa- 
sion for providing what has so long been needed, an adequate 
Church program for young men. What is here suggested is 
primarily program, secondarily organization ; and this organi- 
zation is only for the sake of carrying out the program 
effectively. No overthrowing of present organization is 
proposed, but only a simple plan whereby all the young men 
of a church may work together for the accomplishment of 
one common purpose. 


HISTORY 


Some years ago, the missionary women of the Church 
realized the immediate and potential possibilities of the 
young women of the Church, and an organization specifically 
for Presbyterian young women, called the Westminster Guild, 
was launched. It grew rapidly and has become a real power 
in the Church. No such movement was ever attempted for 
young men. In some churches young men, prompted for the 
most part by local ambitions, did organize. Some groups 
were called Young Men’s Brotherhoods, others Ushers’ Asso- 
ciations, others athletic clubs, others social clubs. There 
were many kinds, but no attempt was made to affiliate the 


123 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


organizations of young men in the Church as a whole or 
relate them to the one program for all young people of the 
denomination. The Church is now convinced that a con- 
certed effort to unite the young men of each church in some 
form of organization is advisable. The name suggested for 
this group of young men is the Young Men’s Fellowship. 


PURPOSE 

The purpose of the Young Men’s Fellowship is to develop 
and enlist the strength of young men for Christ and the 
Church, and to aid young men in living and serving most 
effectively as Christians. There is a certain esprit de corps 
found in a group of young men organized for a common 
purpose and working together at a common task. Such an 
organization often appeals to those outside the Church in a 
way that no other can. Its program affords an opportunity 
for supplementing church worship services and work in 
Sunday school and Young People’s society by providing 
additional information through study classes, informal dis- 
cussions, or participation in dramas and pageants. It seeks 
especially to enlist the young men in practical service activi- 
ties in the church and community. This service in turn is 
practical training for larger church responsibility in the 
future. The Fellowship also advocates a larger social and 
recreational program centering in the church and related often 
to the recreational program of the Westminster Guild. 

The Fellowship will not only bring together the young 
men in an individual church but will also, through Young 
Men’s Fellowships in other churches and on the mission field, 
create a national and international bond of fellowship in 
service with other Christian young men. The work of 
Ushers’ Associations, Young Men’s Brotherhoods, and other 
organizations, where they exist, would not be eliminated but 
embodied in the Fellowship and so broadened as to take in 
additional activities to interest and hold all the young men. 

The purpose creates a number of immediate objectives 
which more or less outline a program for the Fellowship, 
such as: 


124 


THE YOUNG MEN’S FELLOWSHIP 


To give young men a definite share in the work of the 
Church and to prepare them for specific duties in the 
Church. 

To discover and suggest opportunities for service. 

To provide social and recreational activities for young men. 

To give young men an opportunity to study the problems 
in this country and throughout the world which they 
must help to solve, and to enlist young men in the Chris- 
tian solution of these problems. 

To promote high standards of personal living and to de- 
velop personal efficiency, physical, mental, and spiritual. 


WORK 


The Young Men’s Fellowship should aim to secure for 
all the young men connected with the church the whole pro- 
gram which the church ought to provide to build well- 
rounded and able Christian manhood. In many cases parts 
of this program are provided elsewhere in the church, as in 
church worship services, in the Sunday-school sessions, and 
in the Young People’s society. In these cases the Fellow- 
ship will want to make sure that all its members are being 
reached. By cooperation through its representative on the 
Young People’s Cabinet it should help to plan the entire pro- 
gram. In its own program the Fellowship will want to em- 
phasize those parts of the Program which have been espe- 
cially committed to it by the Cabinet and are of particular 
interest to young men. The Young Men’s Fellowship will 
find an especially large place to fill in the fields of service and 
recreation. The recognized tendency of young men to drift 
from the Church may be due largely to the fact that the 
Church has not given them enough to do. To meet and to 
discuss is not enough for most young men—they want to be 
at something that is worth doing. They would like to be 
good for something—though it may be hard for them just to 
be good. Surely in case of most churches and committees 
there 1s enough to keep busy all those who want to work. 
There are tasks waiting also that affect vitally the welfare of 
the nation and the world. In plunging heartily into these 
tasks the young men of many churches will find themselves 


125 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


discovering the fullness of the Christian life and will make 
their organizations centers of a most helpful fellowship. 

Recreation in the lives of young men may be far more 
clearly linked with service than has usually been supposed. 
Few young men can achieve a virile and efficient life without 
plenty of active and enjoyable exercise, proper mental re- 
laxation and refreshment, and helpful social contacts. Yet 
there are many communities where young men, as well as 
others, find these good things difficult to secure. Some are 
seeking them in places where they cannot be found. To 
make them available for all the young men of a church or 
community is a very real service. This may well be one of 
the chief interests of a Young Men’s Fellowship. 

The general activities of the Fellowship may include ath- 
letic and social programs; numerous projects of service to 
the church, to the boys, to the community, and to an even 
wider circle; investigation and surveys; educational trips to 
such places as factories and historical sites; encouragement 
of good reading and of further study on the part of mem- 
bers, e.g., in night school or through home-study courses. 

Many of the things that young men should know in order 
to be prepared for their Christian responsibility call for 
study. Perhaps there should be a special committee to plan 
every year study and discussion courses on vital topics and 
to enroll each member of the Fellowship in these courses. 
The subjects may include the work of the Church at home 
and abroad, about which young men should certainly be in- 
formed if they are to be effective members of the Church; 
training in leadership, such as teaching or leading groups of 
boys; coaching boys’ teams and managing athletic games; 
first aid; the choice of a vocation; Christian attitude toward 
sex; and many other equally vital matters. 


ORGANIZATION 
The Young Men’s Fellowship should include all young 
men in a church who are eighteen through twenty-three years 
of age. It may be formed by affiliating all the existing or- 
ganizations for young men, such as classes in the Sunday 


126 


THE YOUNG MEN’S FELLOWSHIP 


school, Ushers’ Associations, and athletic clubs, to carry out 
one program for young men. ‘This requires a very simple 
form of organization, to clear the whole program, to assign 
various responsibilities to the several groups, and to try to 
see that all the young men are being reached. If most of the 
young men are in organized classes, these classes by adopt- 
ing the program of the Fellowship for their week-day ses- 
sions may share in the work being done by young men in 
the Presbyterian Church. At the same time they secure the 
benefit of a class program vitally related to the rest of the 
work for Young People in an individual church. A com- 
mittee made up of representatives from each of the classes 
would be needed to correlate the work of the separate Fel- 
lowships and to plan the phases of the Program which are 
to be carried as united activities. The chairman of this com- 
mittee would be the one who should represent the young men 
on the Cabinet. The Fellowship may be formed as an 
entirely new organization for all the young men of the 
church, the various activities being planned as distinct fea- 
tures of this one organization. 

Under the Correlated Plan. The organization of the 
Fellowship should be determined largely in the light of the 
local activities. Under the correlated plan for the Young 
People’s Section (see Chapter VI, and chart on page 80), the 
Fellowship should elect the usual officers, should build a con- 
stitution, and should appoint such committees as may seem 
necessary to carry forward the work. Committees on Wor- 
ship, Instruction, Service, and Recreation, should be consid- 
ered as possibilities as these represent the different parts of 
the Young People’s Program. Others should be added as 
needed. The Fellowship should be a vital part of the Young 
People’s Section of the Church and its president or other 
elected member would logically represent the Fellowship on 
the Young People’s Cabinet. 

Under the Unified Plan. In those churches where the 
entire Young People’s Section of the Church has one or- 
ganization (see Chapter VI, and chart on page 79), the ac- 
tivities for the young men would be practically unchanged ; 


127, 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


even the name might be continued, but the organization plan 
would be different. Instead of being a separate organization 
and having a special set of officers distinctly for the Fellow- 
ship, the activities of the young men would be carried for- 
ward in the main by the young man vice president of the 
Young People’s Section, in cooperation with the young men 
members of the committees of Worship, Instruction, Service, 
Recreation, and any other existing committees of the Section. 


MEETINGS 


It is expected that the work of the Fellowship will be 
carried on through regular meetings with well-planned pro- 
grams, activities carried on between meetings, and special 
studies of vital topics carried out through a series of dis- 
cussions. 

The regular meetings should be held at least once a month. 
Semimonthly or weekly meetings would make for a more 
active and helpful organization. Part of the time at each 
meeting may be given to recreation—perhaps athletics if the 
necessary equipment is available—under the direction of 
those in charge of recreation in all its phases. 

A regular period should be devoted to a constructive pro- 
gram of information or inspiration planned by the respon- 
sible committee. These programs may be in the form of 
discussions on vitally interesting subjects; talks by out- 
standing men; talks by members on their jobs, their hobbies, 
their travels, or other subjects on which they can give first- 
hand and interesting information; debates on current prob- 
lems; stereopticon talks; dramatic presentations; discussion 
of projects being carried on by the Fellowship, and the work- 
ing out of further plans. 


PROGRAM 


Under the following main heads of the Young People’s 
Program are indicated some of the things in which the Young 
Men’s Fellowship should be particularly interested: 

Service. As stated above, the Young Men’s Fellowship 
will want to give much time and emphasis to service, both by 


128 


THE YOUNG MEN’S FELLOWSHIP 


the whole group and by individual members. In fact, many 
a Fellowship will begin with definite plans for Christian serv- 
ice if it wants to make its program vital, letting the study and 
other features grow naturally out of this service. 

The Fellowship should share in the service survey con- 
ducted under the direction of the Cabinet of the Young Peo- 
ple’s Section. To it would doubtless be assigned the task of 
discovering facts in regard to the young men of the com- 
munity ; for instance, whether or not their working conditions 
are good, whether their opportunities for recreation are suffi- 
cient and helpful, how many of them are Christian. 

When the program of service for the year is planned, the 
Fellowship would be the organization which should reach 
- these young men. It might also take charge of work for 
younger boys. Here it should be borne in mind that prob- 
ably the best service that young men can render these boys, 
service that probably no one else can render so well, is in 
living strong and fine lives and in being real friends to the 
boys. A group of young men playing hard and fair, keep- 
ing their speech clean and worthy, living virile Christian 
lives, is a blessing to the boys of any community. 

To the Fellowship would also be assigned parts of the 
service program in all its phases, including service in the 
home, the church, the community, the nation, and the world. 
Chapter IV of this Manual gives general principles, and each 
Year Book will contain specific suggestions. The young 
men will want to share in the support of the particular pieces 
of work assigned to the young people under the Board of 
National Missions and the Board of Foreign Missions and 
the Board of Christian Education. Some of this work has 
an especial appeal for young men. 

Recreation. The Fellowship should be a center of 
Christian friendship and wholesome social life for all the 
young men of the church. Its recreational program should 
be carefully and thoughtfully planned to include the activi- 
ties, both social and athletic, which are particularly adapted 
to the needs of the young men. 

This program should include plenty of social good fel- 


129 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 





lowship. It may be possible to equip an attractive clubroom 
for the young men, which will assist in centering their social 
life in the church. One of the finest things the Fellowship 
can do is to provide a meeting place for young men that will 
be helpful in all its influences. Social evenings should be reg- 
ular and frequent, with now and then an affair to which out- 
siders are invited. Doubtless the Fellowship will want to 
plan some of its social activities in cooperation with the West- 
minster Guild, and it will want also to carry its full part in 
the whole social program for the young people of the church. 

Keeping in mind the importance of healthful exercise, a 
definite program of athletics may well be planned for the 
young men. A church may have only limited equipment, but 
with a little work and slight expense it may be possible to 
adapt at least one room for certain indoor sports. Perhaps 
the church owns some land upon which one or more tennis 
courts could be made. A near-by lot may afford room for a 
baseball diamond, the Fellowship assuming responsibility for 
its upkeep. The young men, through the Fellowship, might 
even lead in a movement to secure a church gymnasium. In 
many communities it may be possible to make arrangements 
with the Young Men’s Christian Association, the public 
schools, or other agencies, so that a gymnasium or athletic 
field is available at certain times. 

This athletic program will doubtless involve the planning 
of teams and the arranging of schedules of games with teams 
representing other churches. A Fellowship, however, should 
not be satisfied merely with having a winning team in some 
sport which calls for the participation of only a few men, 
but should seek to foster the sort of program that will get 
every member into some active sport. Besides the usual 
athletic contests which a church group might attempt, such 
as baseball, tennis, track, there are numerous other interest- 
ing possibilities—soccer, handball, volley ball, skating, hiking, 
and bowling. 

The recreation program should not be limited to athletics. 
Other parts of a man need recreation as much as does his 
physical nature. The Fellowship should endeavor to help 


130 


THE YOUNG MEN’S FELLOWSHIP 





its members to plan varied and worth-while recreation pro- 
grams that will make the best use of their leisure time. 
Some of the meetings of the Fellowship may be devoted to 
such activities as encouraging valuable hobbies, acquainting 
members with good books and developing habits of reading 
and an appreciation of art and literature, arousing interest 
in various branches of science and in the study of nature. 
The study of nature might well be encouraged through de- 
veloping a love of the out of doors and the ability to enjoy 
hikes and longer camping trips. 

Instruction. The Fellowship should have a definite 
program of study which should be closely related to the 
Presbyterian Program for the year as revealed in the Year 
Book, and to the service activities in which the members par- 
ticipate. Among the subjects in which young men should be 
interested are Christian citizenship in its bearing upon com- 
munity and national problems, racial and international rela- 
tionships, world peace, the attitude of the Church toward 
social and industrial questions, vocations for men, the Chris- 
tian home and what it requires of a man, and the problem of 
personal efficiency. In the program for each year there should 
be some study of the Bible and of the great missionary task 
committed to the Church. Ne 

If the members of the Fellowship a.2 not in Sunday 
school, some definite plan should be made by which the 
Bible-study course of the Presbyterian Program for Young 
People is taken up, either as a series of devotional studies at 
the meetings of the Fellowship, or as a special course ar- 
ranged for some period of the year. Likewise, it should be 
the aim of the Fellowship to have a definite discussion of 
some mission subject during some portion of each year. 

The Presbyterian Program for Young People provides 
week-day courses on missions and other subjects related to 
the themes for the year. If the great work of the Church in 
the world is ever to be carried on as it ought, young men must 
be ready to do their full share. So vast an enterprise needs 
the informed and enthusiastic backing of every member of 
the Church. Besides, young men are vitally concerned in 


131 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


the great national and world conditions and issues that are 
involved in missions. 

The Fellowship, in planning its year’s program, should read 
Chapter III of this Manual, and the chapter dealing with 
the Fellowship in each Year Book. ‘Through its representa- 
tive on the Cabinet the Fellowship will help to plan the 
whole year’s program for the young people of the church, 
and to assign to each group that part which it should carry 
out. 

Worship. While much of the worship for young men 
is provided through the church services, the Sunday school, 
and the Young People’s society, there are distinct parts of 
the worship program which the Fellowship should include in 
its work. 

There should be brief devotional periods at the meetings of 
the Fellowship. These should be planned beforehand and 
should vitally concern the lives of young men. Virile hymns, 
prayers which express the needs and aspirations of young 
men, and Bible passages which touch their problems should 
be used in these periods. 

The Fellowship should encourage church attendance for all 
its members, and perhaps assume definite responsibility for 
helping regularly in the church services. 

Young men may help each other in their personal religious 
lives by studying together devotional books, recommending 
books which have proved valuable, studying the devotional 
lives of great men, and making definite covenants of prayer 
between members of the Fellowship. 


132 


x) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


This Bibliography does not claim to be exhaustive, but it 
does attempt to list some books which should prove helpful 
to those who are interested in young people’s work. 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND METHODS 


Betts, E. H., and Hawthorne, M. O., Method in Teaching 
Religion. 

Coe, G. A., A Social Theory of Religious Education. 

Cope, H. F., Organizing the Church School. 

Eggleston, M. W., The Use of the Story in Religious Edu- 
cation. 

Fergusson, E. M., Church School Administration. 

Harper, W. A., An Integrated Program of Religious Edu- 
cation. 

Mayer, H. C., The Church’s Program for Young People. 

Meredith, W. V., Pageantry and Dramatics in Religious 
Education: 

National Young People’s Board of the Religious Education 
Council of Canada, Young People’s Manual. 

Shaver, E. L., The Project Principle in Religious Educa- 
tion. 

Smith, F. W., Leaders of Young People. 

Thompson, J. V., Handbook for Workers with Young 
People. 


WorsHIP 
Theory: 
Candler, Martha, Drama in Religious Service, Chapter I. 
Hartshorne, Hugh, Manual for Training in Worship. 
Kennedy, M. E., and Meyer, M.’M., The Training of the 
Devotional Life. 
Smith, F. W., Leaders of Young People, Chapter XIV. 
Weigle, L. A., and Tweedy, H. H., Training the Devo- 
tional Life. 


133 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


Hymns and Hymn Stories: 

Benson, Louis F., Studies of Familiar Hymns. First and 
Second Series. 

Benson, Louis F., Editor, The Hymnal Revised, Presby- 
terian Church, U. S. A. 

Smith, H. A., Editor, Hymnal for American Youth. 

Wells, A. R., A Treasury of Hymns. 


Prayers: 
Knight, W. A., Prayers Ancient and Modern. 
Orchard, W. E., The Temple. 
Rauchenbusch, Walter, Prayers of the Social Awakening. 
Woman’s Press, Book of Prayers Written for Use in an 
Indian College. 


Religious Poetry : 

Crowe, M. F., Christ in the Poetry of To-day. 

Hill, C. M., Compiler, The World’s Great Religious 
Poetry. 

Morris, Joseph, and Adams, St. Clair, Compilers, It Can 
Be Done. 

Porter, D. R., Poems of Action. 


Stories for Use in Worship Programs: 

Eggleston, M. W., Stories for Use on Special Days in the 
Church School. 

Stowell, J. S., Story-Worship Programs. 


INSTRUCTION 
Psychology : 
Colvin, S. S., The Learning Process. 
James, William, Psychology, Brief Course. 
Mudge, E. L., Psychology of Later Adolescence. (In 
preparation. ) 
Tracy, Frederick, The Psychology of Adolescence. 


Principles and Methods: 
Betts, G. H., The Curriculum of Religious Education. 
Betts, G. H., How to Teach Religion. 
Elliott, Harrison, The Why and How of Group Discussion. 


134 


eo * 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Shaver, E. L., Teaching Adolescents in the Church School. 
Weigle; L.A. The Teacher. 


SERVICE 

Candler, Martha, Drama in Religious Service. 

Hutchins, W. N., Graded Social Service for the Sunday 
School. 

Loveland, Gilbert, Training World Christians. 

Shaver, E. L., The Project Principle in Religious Educa- 
tion, pages 292-317. 

Smith, F. W., Leaders of Young People, Chapters X-XII. 

For specific information about the special work set apart 
for young people’s gifts, write the Board of National Mis- 
sions, the Board of Foreign Missions, and the Board of 
Christian Education. 


RECREATION 

Theory: 

Gates, H. W., Recreation and the Church. 

Powell, W. T., Recreational Leadership for Church and 
Community. 

Playground and Recreation Association of America, Com- 
munity Drama. 

Richardson, N. E., The Church at Play. 


Games and Programs: 

Bancroft, J. H., Games for the Playground, Home, School 
and Gymnasium. 

Chesley, A. M., Social Activities for Men and Boys. 

Draper, G. O., Games. 

Geister, E. M., Ice Breakers and the Ice Breaker Herself. 

Rohrbaugh, Lynn, “Handy,” The Leader’s Loose Leaf 
Notes. 

Harbin, E. O., Phunology. 

Hofmann, M. C., Games for Everybody. 

Miller, C. A., Joy from Japan, Chinese Ginger, and Play 
Plans from Persia. 

Owen, Ethel, A Year of Recreation. 


135 


APPENDIX A 


BASIC OUTLINE OF SIX YEAR PROGRAM FOR PRES- 
BYTERIAN YOUNG PEOPLE FROM EIGHTEEN 
THROUGH TWENTY-THREE YEARS OF AGE 

The aim of the Presbyterian Program for Young People 
is growth in effective Christian living through personal com- 
mitment to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, acceptance of 
his purpose for the whole of life, and united service for the 
advancement of the Kingdom. 


Worship 


The aim of worship is to establish and to develop that filial 
relationship with God and Christlike fellowship with men, 
through which the worshiper shares God’s Spirit and pur- 
poses and receives strength for Christian living. 

1. Elements of worship 
. Reverence 
. Praise 
. Gratitude 
. Communion 
. Aspiration 
Loyalty 
. Good will 
ans of worship 
Music 
Prayer 
Scripture 
. Giving 
. Message (talks, story, drama) 

f. Devotional literature 
3. Types of worship 
a. Individual 
b. Family 
c. General groups 
(1) Formal service 
(2) Informal service 


136 


Mmoacrp 


2. M 


oO 


ono se 


APPENDIX A 
4. Methods of worship 
a. By carefully planned programs of worship 
b. By developing individual participation on the part 
of young people 
c. By providing the materials and equipment for wor- 
ship 


Instruction 
The aim of instruction is to present and interpret the facts 
of the Christian religion, the principles and ideals of Jesus, 
and the history, needs, achievements, and methods for his 
world enterprise as the basis for a well-developed Christian 
character and for efficient Christian service. 


BIBLE 
1. Jesus Christ and daily living 
. Daily task, in business or school 
. Home 
. Companionships 
. Pleasures 
. Personal standards of living 
Social and industrial relationships 
. Racial and international relationships 
. Use of possessions 
Service to others 
Purpose of life 
. Place of God in each life 
Faith 
m. Prayer 
n. Choice of life work 
2. Jesus Christ himself 
. Story of his life 
. His teachings 
. His gospel of the Kingdom 
. His revelation of God 
. His lordship: why Christ is authoritative in our 
lives 
. His work for men 


mmo ro ho ao oD 


oman op 


eh 


137 


Oo 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


Forerunners of Jesus 
a. The calling and development of the Hebrew people 
b. Leaders of Israel 
c. The prophets and their messages 
(1) Their thought of God and conception of 
Israel’s destiny 
(2) Their teachings regarding everyday living 


4. Followers of Jesus: their work as revealed in The Acts 


bh re 


and the Epistles 
a. The work and teachings of the twelve disciples 
b. Paul’s journeys, labors, and teachings 
c. Other leaders 
d. The apostolic churches 


. How we got our Bible 


a. Authorship of the books 

b. Historical background of the books 

c. Preservation, translation, and transmission of the 
Bible from generation to generation 


. The literature of the Bible 


a. Survey of the books as literature 
b. Outstanding examples of literary excellence 


MISSIONS 


. Motives and aims of the missionary enterprise 
. The Bible basis of missions 


a. Missionary implications of the Old Testament 
b. Life and teachings of Jesus as the basis of missions 
c. Missions in apostolic times 


. The part of missions in the establishment of Christianity 


a. The founding of the early churches 

b. The carrying of Christianity throughout Europe 
and to America 

c. Early attempts at world-wide missions 


. Story of modern missions 


a. Great pioneer missionaries at home and abroad 

b. Spread of Christianity to western America 

c. Beginnings of Christianity in Africa, Asia, and 
other lands 


138 


APPENDIX A 


5. Present-day background of national and foreign mis- 


a 
b 


sions 
. Races and peoples 
. Religious beliefs 


c. National and world conditions 


6. Th 


) b 


e missionary task to-day 
. Problems to be faced 
. Agencies at work 


c. Methods of work 
d. Accomplishments on mission fields 


e. 


f 


The unfinished task 
_ Untouched and uncharted resources in the Church 


7. The Presbyterian share in the missionary enterprise 


aan 


bie Ne 
a 
b 


. History of Presbyterian missions 


_ Fields in which the Presbyterian Church operates 


. Work being done to-day at home and abroad 


_ Method and organization for financing and carry- 
ing on this work 
_ Unmet missionary obligations of the Presbyterian 


Church 


_ The share of the young people in Presbyterian mis- 


sions, national and foreign 


THE CHURCH 
e Church to-day 
. The place of the individual in the Church 
. The program of the individual church 


c. The program of the Presbyterian denomination 


) 


and how it is carried on through the various 
agencies 


d. The courts of the Presbyterian Church and how 


they function 


e. The creed of Presbyterians 


2cEh 
a 


e development of the Church 
. The religious life of the Hebrews 
(1) Buildings 
(2) Music 
(3) Method of worship 
139 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


b. The founding of the Christian Aeibincs 
(1) Government 
(2) Methods of worship 
(3) Program 
(4) Buildings 

c. The Church during the Middle Ages: a comparison 
of progress in art and architecture with lack of 
progress in evangelical religion 


d. The Reformation 
(1) Cause 
(2) Methods 
(3) Results 

e. Modern Church history 
(1) The growth of denominations 
(2) Accomplishments of the Church 
(3) Present-day task of the Church 


STEWARDSHIP 


1. Stewardship as the Christian law of life 
a. Biblical basis 
b. Application to the whole of life 
2. Stewardship of time 
a. Budgeting time 
b. Portion set apart for definite Christian purposes 
3. Stewardship of talent and personality 
a. Christian valuation 
b. Responsibility for use 
c. Development 
4. Stewardship of possessions 
a. Principles of acquisition 
b. Personal responsibility for use 
(1) Apportionment, budgeting, and accounting 
(2) Proportionate giving 
(3) Proportionate spending 
(4) Proportionate saving 
c. Money and the world enterprise of the Church 


140 


WN & 


APPENDIX A 


EVANGELISM 


. Evangelism as part of the Church program 


a. A continuous activity 
b. Through education 
c. Special services 


. Evangelism as an individual responsibility 
. Participation of young people in a church or community 


evangelistic movement 
a. Publicity 
b. Service in meetings (music, ushering, and so forth) 
c. Personal work 


. Methods of individual work 


a. Preparation 

b. Finding opportunities 
c. Approach 

d. Meeting objections 


LEADERSHIP TRAINING 


. Elementary psychology and pedagogy 
. Parliamentary procedure 
. The purpose, organization, program, and administration 


of such church organizations as: 
. Official boards in individual church 
. Sunday school with its subdivisions 
. Expressional societies 
. Vacation Church schools 
. Week-day Church schools 
. Missionary organizations 
. Clubs 


rho @.Q oO 2 


the} 


. Methods in various age groups 


(Children 1 to 11; Young People 12 to 23; Adults 
24 to ?) 
. Instruction 
. Worship 
. Service 
. Recreation 


om ® 


Qu 


141 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


VOCATIONS 
. Types of vocations and their requirements 
. Professions 
. Farming 
. Social service 
. Business 
. Politics 
. Trades 
. Home-making 
. Way to choose a vocation 
a. The world’s need 
(1) Of health 
(2) Of education 
(3) Of Christianity 
(4) Of political guidance and social justice 
(5) Of use of earth’s resources 
b. Ability of the individual to meet the need; special 
interest and ability as basis for decision 
. Christian view of work 
Life as a stewardship 
. Maximum preparation for life work 
a. Physical 
b. Mental 
c. Spiritual 
d. Social 


apo Len (ey (ener tenis, 


RELIGIOUS ART 

. Music 

a. History of music in the life of the Church from 
the earliest time to the present 

b. Various types of vocal and instrumental religious 
music 

c. Great hymns of the Church 

. Drama and pageantry 

a. Drama in the Bible 

b. Drama in the Early Church 

c. Medieval religious drama: morality and miracle 
plays 

d. Drama and pageantry in the Church to-day 


142 


APPENDIX A 


. Literature 

a. The Bible as literature 

b. Masterpieces of religious literature 
. Art and architecture 

a. Art of the Bible 

b. Medieval art 

c. Church architecture 

d. Modern developments in religious art 


HEALTH AND HYGIENE 


. Personal health standards in their relation to the devel- 
opment of a well-balanced Christian life 

. Sex hygiene in relation to 

a. The individual 

b. The ideal Christian family life 

c. The well-being of the race 

. Community and world health problems and the special 
responsibility of Christians for their solution 

. Preparation for first aid and volunteer health work 


HoME AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS 


. Relationships outside the home 
a. General social contacts 
(1) Interdependence of people in community 
(2) Making the most of present contacts 
(a) At daily tasks 
(b) In church life 
(c) In community life 
(d) In recreation 
(3) Making contacts and interests as wide as 
possible 
b. Friendships 
(1) Meaning 
(2) Opportunities 
(3) Obligations 
c. Relationships between men and women 
(1) Mental attitude 
(2) Physical basis 
143 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


(3) Personal significance 
(4) Social significance 
2. Relationships in the home 
a. History of family and its place as unit of society 
b. Ideals of a Christian home 
(1) Love 
(2) Fellowship with God 
(3) Unselfishness and sacrifice 
(4) Cooperation and helpfulness 
(5) Hospitality 
(6) Service to others 
c. Choice of a life partner 
d. Obligations of Christian parenthood 


Wor.Lp CITIZENSHIP 
1; Principles of Jesus applied to national and world prob- 
lems 
. Social problems 
. Industrial problems 
Racial problems 
. Political problems 
. International relationships 
(1) Ideals and problems of world brotherhood 
(2) War and peace 
2. Responsibility of the Christian citizen toward national 
and world problems 
. Obligations of the franchise 
. Knowledge of laws 
Enforcement of laws 
. Molding of public opinion 
Public service 


coAnore 


poh) 


elon 


Service 
The aim of service is to help build the Kingdom by giving 
practical expression to Christian impulses and ideals through 
Christian living and action. A survey to discover practical 
ways in which young people can serve in the home, the 
church, the community, the nation, and the world should pre- 
cede service activities. 


144 


APPENDIX A 


1. Home 
Participate in family responsibilities 
2. Church 
a. Participate in meetings and activities of the church 
and its various organizations 
b. Participate in financial obligations 
c. Help in the evangelistic and extension work 
d. Participate in work of presbyterial, synodical, 
and national units of Church organization 
3. Community 
a. Share in helpful activities among student, indus- 
trial, and other community groups 
b. Work among foreign-speaking peoples 
c. Assist in civic projects 
d. Assist in charities and welfare work 
e. Render service in institutions 
f. Participate in interdenominational activities 
4, Nation 
a. Help to spread knowledge of and interest in the 
work of national missions of the Presbyterian 
Church 
b. Support loyally the work of the Presbyterian 
Church on the field of national missions 
c. Support actively all national movements looking 
toward enforcement of law, social justice, and 
cooperation for world peace 
d. Work actively for the development of Christian 
friendliness and good will among all peoples in 
America 
5. World 
a. Help to spread knowledge of an interest in the 
work of foreign missions of the Presbyterian 
Church 
b. Support loyally the work of the Presbyterian 
Church on the foreign field 
c. Help to overcome international and interracial 
prejudices and work for a real knowledge and 
appreciation of all peoples 


145 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


d. Support international movements for world 
cooperation and peace 


Recreation 


The aim of recreation is to help young people in finding 
and developing Christian friendship and fellowship, to guide 
them in applying Christian principles and purposes to their ; 
social and recreational life, and to assist them in maintaining / 
their lives on the highest possible plane. 
1. Content 
. Reading 
. Music 
. Drama 
. Indoor and outdoor play, organized and unorgan- 
ized 
e. Social fellowship 
f. Athletics 
g. Gymnastics 
2. Method 
a. Survey of the community to discover its social and 
recreational needs 
b. Promotion of wholesome activities which will sat- 
isfy the play instinct and the social and recrea- 
tional needs, by such means as: 
(1) Plays and pageants 
(2) Athletic events 
(3) Gymnasium programs 
(4) Seasonal festivals 
(5) Parties and socials 
(6) Entertainments > 
(7) Summer camps a 
(8) Hikes and picnics 
(9) Lists of worth-while games and amusements 
for use in the home 
(10) Circulating libraries of home games 


oem ome 


146 


APPENDIX B 


AGE GROUP PROGRAM PROMOTION THROUGH 
THE TRAINING OF LEADERSHIP 


It has been recognized by those responsible for the Pres- 
byterian Program for Young People that one of the most im- 
portant factors in promoting it is an adequately trained lead- 
ership. The following plan for the training of leadership 
has therefore been worked out. 

It is recognized that the training required for effective 
leadership includes at least: 

1. A study of the types of materials used in the building of 
a curriculum with an especial study of the way in which 
these materials have been organized in the Presbyterian 
Age Group Programs and of the principles underlying 
these programs. This will include a consideration of the 
way in which these programs may be adapted to meet the 

needs of individual churches. 

2. A study of the organization to be used in carrying through 
an age-group program and of ways in which the individual 
church may adapt the suggested forms of organization and 
so meet its own situation. 

3. A study of the principles basic to the leadership of edu- 
cational activities. 

In securing this training the following plan is proposed: 

1. “Registered leaders.” 

a. The Director of Young People’s Work of the Board of 
Christian Education will register annually such individual 
leaders and teachers in the local church as meet certain spe- 
cific requirements in terms of Leadership Training credits. (A 
Leadership Training credit represents the successful comple- 
tion of one unit of work in the Standard Training Course. 
Each unit consists of a minimum of ten class hours of work 
in some one of the subjects of the course.)- To such leaders 
there shall be issued some card of recognition and they 
shall be recognized as registered leaders in their respective 


147 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


groups. It is understood that the intention of this register- 
ing of leaders is not to make the handling of age-group pro- 
grams impossible to unregistered leaders, but is to place a 
premium upon preparation for the more efficient handling of 
the program. 

b. The individual who applies for the first time for recogni- 
tion as a registered leader shall offer at least the follow- 
ing units of Leadership Training credit: 

(1) The Teaching Work of the Church. 

(2) Psychology of Later Adolescence. 

(3) Young People’s Materials and Methods. 

(4) Organization and Administration of the Young 
People’s Department. 

c. After leaders have been registered they must present 
each year two additional units of Leadership Training credit 
in order to secure the annual renewal of their registration. 
The registration may become permanent when the Training 
Diploma has been secured. The Training Diploma is granted 
upon completion of the twelve-unit Standard Training 
Course. 

d. The Director of Young People’s Work will, from time 
to time, recognize those who have been listed as registered 
leaders in some publication of the Board. 

2. Agencies for Age Group Program promotion through 
training of leadership. 

This type of promotion will be carried on through the fol- 
lowing agencies : 

a. Standard Training Schools. A Standard Training 
School is a school in which, under accredited leaders, units of 
the Standard Training Course are offered for credit. The 
school must offer at least four courses and must have at least 
ten class periods of fifty minutes each. The minimum time 
for such a school is five days. In a five- or six-day school 
only one course may be taken by a pupil for credit. The 
standards for such schools have been formulated by the In- 
ternational Committee on Education. 

(1) Denominational short term, five or six days, offering 
the age-group specialization courses along with other courses. 


148 


\y 


© 


APPENDIX B 


(2) Special denominational schools organized to offer only 
those courses essential to registration. 

(3) Interdenominational Schools, long or short term. It 
is to be understood that when materials and methods courses 
or organization and administration courses have been taken 
in and credits secured from Interdenominational Training 
Schools, the leader applying for registration should be re- 
quired to supplement this credit by a study of specific Pres- 
byterian materials and by satisfactory reports of this study to 
the Director of Young People’s Work of the Board of Chris- 
tian Education. 

(4) Summer Training Schools, especially that at Wooster, 
Ohio. 

b. Training classes that meet the standard requirements. 
These may be: 

(1) In summer conferences. 
(2) In the individual church. 
(3) In the community, serving a number of churches. 

These classes may be organized to include an entire pres- 
bytery and so serve a wider area. In all cases the Training 
class must be registered at the headquarters of the Board of 
Christian Education, and will be supervised through the 
medium of an examination. 

c. Correspondence courses offered by the Board of Chris- 
tian Education. 

Note: Credit cannot be given for courses taken in one-, two-, 
or three-day institutes, even though offered by accredited leaders. 


The brevity of the time makes it impossible for these institutes to 
meet the required standards. 


3. Leadership for Age Group Program promotion through 
training of leadership. 

Since this type of promotion involves the issuance of Lead- 
ership Training credits, it can be carried on only by those 
who have been accredited as Standard Training instructors. 
Instructors are accredited for Standard Training work on the 
basis of knowledge and previous training and experience in 
accordance with certain standards fixed by the International 
Committee on Education. On the basis of these standards in- 


149 


MANUAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM 


structors are accredited by the Director of Leadership Train- 
ing. 
THE STANDARD LEADERSHIP TRAINING COURSE 


The Standard Leadership Training Course has been out- 
lined by the Committee on Education of the International 
Council of Religious Education and approved by the Pres- 
byterian Board of Christian Education. It consists of twelve 
units of work, a unit of work representing at least ten class 
sessions of fifty minutes each. These twelve units are divided 
into three groups: six general required units, three speciali- 
zation required units, three elective units to be selected from 
the approved list of electives. The outline below gives the 
general and the specialization required units for workers in 
the Young People’s Department since that is where speciali- 
zation work should be done by leaders who are using the 
Presbyterian Program for Young People. For approved 
texts consult the Director of Leadership Training, 423 
Witherspoon Building, Philadelphia, Pa. 


THE GENERAL UNITS (Required) 
. A Study of the Pupil. 
. The Principles of Teaching. 
. The Old Testament. 
The New Testament. 
. The Message and Program of the Christian Religion. 
. The Teaching Work of the Church. 


DAunkwn 


THE SPECIALIZATION UNITS (Required) 


Young People’s Department 
71. A Study of Later Adolescence. 
72. Young People’s Materials and Methods. 
73. Young People’s Department Administration. 


150 


TNT 
1 1012 01237 6341 _ 








